


The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name

by leonardo1123581321



Series: The Tamerverse [4]
Category: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Doctor Who References, Drama, Humor, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2019-10-02 15:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 180,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17266958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonardo1123581321/pseuds/leonardo1123581321
Summary: In the next adventure of the Digimon Tamer, the lives of Juri, Rika, and Henry change forever when digimon begin crossing over into the human world. But it's all just a story, right? Just a book series by an author no one has seen in a long time. Why are they here and can they save their world before something worse follows the digimon?





	1. The Digimon Appear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone. I hope you’re well and excited for the next phase of the story. A quick little rune down. This story will be a little different from The Tamer and The Tamer v1.2. Let me explain, this story is going to be a soft reboot of the Tamerverse in the vein of Doctor Who’s regeneration between Doctors. I’m not retconning anything - all the events from the previous story still happened and there will be a lot of continuity nods for readers of the previous stories. But much like Doctor Who, if you haven’t read those stories then I have good news! You don’t need to. Everything that happened previously won’t really affect this story except as vague references to past events. And that’s what I mean by a soft reboot. The past stuff still happened but we’re not concentrating too hard on it. We’re concentrating on the new characters and their struggles and adventures - similar to how each Doctor tends to ignore the life of the previous Doctor to focus on the current Doctor’s adventures and travels. Now that’s out of the way, let’s get started with the next story in the The Tamerverse!

In the furthest depths of the Digital World, the four strongest guardians of the Digital World found themselves on the retreat. They were known as the Sovereigns - the digimon who oversaw the Digital World. And they were afraid.

But they didn’t know what of. They didn’t even know how to describe it. It was amorphous, but it could take any shape at will. It could be harmed, but it could just as quickly replace what it lost. And it was strong - that was the simplest way to describe it. They threw their strongest attacks to try and drive it off, at the very least slow it down. Instead it swallowed their attacks, as if all they’d done was feed it. And it continued to advance upon them. As the four strongest digimon guardians were certain they wouldn’t escape with their lives, an unlikely hero appeared. A digimon whose might couldn’t compare to theirs but whose skill and experience spoke for itself.

“WarGreymon!” Azulongmon shouted, “What are you doing here?”

“I could feel what you guys were doing from the other side of the the Digital World,” WarGreymon answered, before pointing at the thing behind them, “What is that?”

“We don’t know. Quickly! We have to escape!” Azulongmon warned, urging the hero of the Digital World to flee, “It’s too strong, even for you.”

WarGreymon looked at Azulongmon, then back down at whatever was climbing its way out, “If you can’t beat it, then we can’t let it loose in the Digital World. The-there’s no other option. We have to…protect the Catalyst! If that thing gets a hold of it, who knows what’ll happen. I’ll slow it down! Protect the catalyst and prepare the Digital World.”

“Slow it down?” Azulongmon repeated, “That thing took all of our strongest attacks at the same time. And all it wanted was more!”

“Don’t worry about me. GO! Get to the Bastion and send the Catalyst away!” WarGreymon shouted. It was only then that Azulongmon understood what WarGreymon intended to do. Before they could talk him out of it, WarGreymon added, “And do me a favor. When Tamer shows up again…tell him he took too long. And I’m sorry.”

“We will remember your sacrifice,” Azulongmon replied, retreating away with the rest of the Sovereigns. Azulongmon looked back once to see WarGreymon creating a large ball of fire. He thought he would throw it at the creature, but instead he threw it into the rock face beside them. It was only then that Azulongmon understood what was happening - WarGreymon couldn’t fight it so he was going to bury it alive. But even a mega of his level couldn’t survive the full weight of the Digital World crashing down atop him.

“TERRA FORCE!”

The fire and fury disappeared as the rocks crashed down around them. WarGreymon was gone. He may not have perished to that thing, but he was gone. With any hope, he would retain his memories after he reformatted. But they couldn’t dwell on his sacrifice. They had to protect the Catalyst. They fled for the Bastion to fulfill WarGreymon’s last request.

* * *

Ten year old Ruki Makino was known as Rika to her friends. Or she would’ve been if she had any friends worth mentioning. Despite her pretty face and her warm upbringing by her loving mother, she had developed a cold personality that kept everyone else at arm’s length. Including her own family. There were only two people in her life that she could speak to openly. The first was her grandmother, the closest thing she considered to be an actual adult in her life. Her mother was a model for a fashion company and was too caught up with her own work to actually care for Rika. She tried to involve her daughter in the modeling in some ill conceived attempt at mother-daughter bonding. That same attempt was how Ruki found out she hated modeling and somehow managed to like her mother less after that. 

On the first day of the shoot, she threw off the pretty dresses and stylish clothes in favor of her jeans and shirt; running out of the studio and as far away as she could.

That act of rebellion led to her stumbling across a few kids playing a card game nearby which she instantly fell in love with. She began playing after begging her grandmother to buy her a deck of cards and a card reader. And she turned out to have quite the talent for it. It wasn’t long before she started entering tournaments and playing to win. That was when she met the second person she could talk to - a curious and enthusiastic young boy whom she considered her equal in the game. A boy she came to know as Ryo Akiyama.

They first met at the finals of the tournament - where all her natural talent and skill were undone by his carefully thought out strategies and luck. Despite beating her, he still thanked her for offering him a good match and hoped to see her again. Maybe that was when she found herself developing a small crush on him. Of all the people in the world, he seemed like the only one worth her time. She wanted to be able to say more than few words to him every time they met but could only squeak out a small ‘hello’ and ‘later’ whenever she did. The most embarrassing time was during the last tournament when the two of them made it all the way to the finals and played against each other. Despite losing to him for the second time, they were both given the title the Digimon King and Queen. It was a close match, and a few times the odds turned in the other’s favor. In the end, he pulled a surprise move and beat her in the last round, narrowly pulling victory from defeat. She wanted to congratulate him, but was too shy to say anything that time he either.

Then he just vanished. Disappeared. Not just from the game but from life. For a while, his face was all over the news as he’d gone missing. His parents put out missing posters and had recruited some neighbors to help look. But nothing. Rika kept hoping one day she might accidentally bump into him on her way to and from school. But he never did reappear. He was just gone.

And her love for the card game went with him. It had become too easy without him there as a challenge, and almost no one could keep up with her in a game. In one round of the previous tournament, she’d won in just five turns. But it felt empty and she went home that night planning on leaving the card game forever. She put the card reader and her deck in a shoebox and planned to forget about the whole thing.

That night, she had the most terrible dream. A nightmare filled with digital monsters roaring and howling, all chasing her as she fled for her life from them. She wanted the nightmare to end and would do anything for it. As she ran, she came across a small light that chased the monsters away. When the light faded, she saw a boy just a little bit older than her standing there with raggedy clothes. He held out his hand towards her and said, “Find me.”

“What?”

“You have to find me.”

She tried to get a better look at his face but could only make out the vaguest details. But his voice was so familiar. Then it hit her, “Ryo?”

Then he was gone, replaced by an image of another boy with his back to her. He didn’t look back but he said only one thing, “It’s coming, and you need to be ready.”

She jolted awake to a darkened bed room in their traditional style home in a higher end neighborhood of Shinjuku. She looked around the dark room and saw a small light emanating from the shoebox. Her heart pounded in her chest as fear overtook her, sliding the lid off to find her card reader glowing. Then it flashed, blinding her briefly until she could see it again and saw something that she’d only ever dreamed of. It only took one glance to realize what it was, “A digivice!”

She’d only ever seen this in illustration on the covers of booster packs and deck boxes. Never in real life. Then another light appeared behind her. She grabbed the digivice and turned around to see a window in the air - a glowing light silhouetting the unmistakable outline of a Goblimon. It began, “You are…it has to be. Yes, you must be the Tamer!”

“The Tamer?” she repeated quietly, “What are you talking about?”

“The Tamer!” the Goblimon repeated, “A great warrior who can raise any digimon to unstoppable levels. You must train me! I can be your partner!”

“Warrior? I’m not a warrior! I’m ten!” Rika protested, wondering this thing got that stupid idea. The Goblimon insisted, “There’s no more time! Make me your partner. Make me stronger!”

Before she had time to process what it was saying to her, another voice spoke out of the darkness, “Is that…the Tamer?”

“Yes, it has to be the Tamer!”

“Tamer! Choose me as your partner!”

“No, choose me! I’m already strong! Together, we can be stronger!”

The outlines of digimon poured through to appear by the window, and she could only make out so many. Something that resembled a Devimon, a Tyrannomon, a Palmon, a Digitamamon, a Tentomon and more. Their voices grew louder as they pleaded more. Rika covered her ears to drown out their voices. They were so loud that she was certain someone in their house would hear it. But another thought scared her more. If they could hear all the noise, why was no one coming to help her?

Why would they? The only one who truly cared was her grandmother and what could she do? At her age, there wasn’t much. Rika would have to do this on her own. She uncovered her ears and shouted, “If I’m getting a partner then I’m choosing that partner for myself.”

The digimon fell silent at her declaration and she finally had the chance to think clearly. If she knew what she wanted then there was no shame for her to make her conditions known, “I want a strong digimon! A partner who’s already the strongest, so that when I make them stronger they become unbeatable. They have to be fast, smart, loyal, and brave, and willing to do anything I ask without question!”

The silence continued as the digimon looked between each other. Then they stepped aside as a new digimon silhouette came to the front. Rika didn’t recognize this digimon as she stepped out of the lighted window and bowed before her. A yellow fox standing on two legs wearing purple gloves that ran up the length of her arm. The fox looked up, “I am Renamon. I am the digimon you’re looking for, Digimon Tamer.”

“Hi,” she replied quietly, taken aback by seeing a real life digimon standing in front of her. She’d heard stories about how they were real. About how years ago they’d appeared in the Real World. But all she’d seen were the novels by the author, the card game and toys, and the TV show that aired for a little bit. Aside from the card game, none of it really interested her. She’d never actually seen one in real life. Part of her wanted to jump for joy but she was still too shaken by them all suddenly appearing at once to actually do anything.

Renamon rose from her bow and added, “I look forward to working with you. May we grow stronger together and become an unstoppable team.”

“So…am I a digidestined?” Rika asked. Renamon turned her head, “If you wish, although the stories said Digimon Tamer never answered to the title. So what-”

“Don’t call me that,” Rika snapped, annoyed with hearing the name. Renamon fell quiet, then asked, “Then what do you wish me to call you?”

“Rika,” she answered, “Call me Rika.”

Renamon bowed, “Very well, Rika.”

* * *

Jangliang Lee always preferred going by his nickname Henry. It came about when his classmates struggled to pronounce his name and read it as Jenrya when he was in pre school. From there, they decided to just call him Henry. Ever since, the name stuck. Even at home, his family started calling him Henry thinking that the name was cute.

What they didn’t approve of was his love of the digimon computer game. Or rather, his mom didn’t approve and his dad didn’t want to defy her. He had to go out of his way to help him keep it secret. After all, the game had nothing to do with his studies or his Tai Chi training. And how else would Henry get to be a great doctor if he spent all day playing a silly game? And who else would know better for him than his own mother?

It was hard, but his dad was able to sneak in a dresser with a lock so that Henry could lock up his computer if he needed to hide it. Maybe that’s what started the whole thing. His dad had also quietly gave him new digimon games every time one came out which he quickly installed.

And the new one came out today! It had a new feature that allowed it to read the data off cards so that it could affect the game, and he excitedly attached his card reader to his computer. After starting the game, Henry had the choice of picking his starter digimon - Terriermon, Gorillamon, Hagurumon, Kabuterimon, Palmon, and Seadramon. For him, it was a no brainer - he chose Terriermon.

Then something happened he didn’t expect. The other digimon ganged up on Terriermon right at the character select screen. Terriermon was in trouble at first, running for his life as the digimon attacked.Straight out of the character select screen and out into some large open desert. It was like the game was breaking the fourth wall. Then the audio came through and it sounded so real - like he was actually watching everything through a window.

“Why’d the digimon tamer choose you?”

“He should’ve chosen me! I’m stronger!”

“Any one of us would’ve been a better pick than you!”

“Kill him!”

“Terriermon!” Henry gasped in terror, watching the little digimon flee for his life. This was one hell of a horrible first level if this was how they started the game. Henry pressed a few keys on his keyboard to take control, only to get no reaction from any of the digimon on screen. It must not have played like the last one. So he switched to his card reader and deck. If the game operated like the card game, all he would have to do is scan the right cards. After fumbling through his deck, he began, “Alright. Let’s give them a taste of this! Speed boost activate! Power boost activate!”

Immediately, Terriermon took off at full speed running away from the digimon at first. Then he turned and ran straight at Gorillamon, leaping into the air and kicking him in the face so that he landed flat on his back. Then he turned on Palmon and Hagurumon. Terriermon dispatched them both with ease, knocking them aside, only to find himself surrounded by Gorillamon, Seadramon, and Kabuterimon. Thinking quickly, Henry swiped the next card in his deck, “WarGreymon’s Brave Shield, Activate!”

The golden shield appeared in Terriermon’s hands and he leapt away while using it to shield himself from their endless attacks. Once the attacks ended, Terriermon grabbed the edges of the shield with his ears and hurled it like a frisbee at Kabuterimon. It bounced off his head and continued straight towards Seadramon - slicing the digimon in half.

Henry reeled at the violence he’d witnessed, surprised to see such gore in a game targeted towards kids. The other digimon panicked and turned to run, and Henry cheered, “Alright, Terriermon! You got ‘em!”

As the digimon retreated, Terriermon gave chase - firing his bubbles from his mouth wildly at the fleeing digimon. Terriermon laughed with glee as the digimon ran, “Don’t run! Don’t run! I only want to be your friend!”

“Okay Terriermon, that’s enough,” Henry began, realizing that he was trying to talk down a digimon in a computer game. Terriermon continued unabated anyway, pursuing the fleeing Kabuterimon and Gorillamon, “Where are you going? I thought you wanted to play!”

“Terriermon! That’s enough! Stop it!” Henry pleaded with the little digimon only to see the fight go on longer, “Why are you being like this!? Is...Did I do this? Are all digimon like this!?”

Henry pondered these questions in his head as he watched Terriermon continue, using WarGreymon’s shield to beat Kabuterimon, Palmon, and Hagurumon until they were flattened pulps on the ground. Then they dissipated to data. Gorillamon was the last one standing and he turned in place, “I’m not running anymore. If I’m going down, I’ll take you with me! EAT THIS!”

He fired the cannon on his arm at Terriermon, but the little digimon still had an active speed and strength boost. Dodging those attacks was easy for him. The first shot went wide. The second shot struck the ground. The third shot just barely missed. Terriermon was slowing down. Henry noticed it but Terriermon didn’t, “Terriermon! Run away! The speed boost is almost gone!”

His words couldn’t reach Terriermon. He should’ve known this by now. There was nothing he could’ve done to stop his digimon from walking straight into the last blast from Gorillamon’s cannon. He should’ve been dead. By some miracle, he was still alive but he was lying on the ground.”

Gorillamon laughed, “That’s right! I win! I am the best! Now prepare to die! Maybe then the tamer will choose me!”

“NO! TERRIERMON!” Henry leapt up off his chair in a panic, grabbing at the computer screen in vain. All he wanted was to play a game. He didn’t want to see this. He didn’t want this cruelty! This wasn’t right. This wasn’t a fun game anymore. Whatever this was, Henry wanted it to stop, “Gorillamon, don’t do it. Please stop! Please!”

He was so caught up with watching the screen that he didn’t notice his card reader start to glow. All he could focus on was Terriermon about to die. Gorillamon presses the cannon against the little guys’d face, but backed away when he started to glow a soft light. That was when he finally noticed his card reader glowing. Henry looked over at it and watched it warp into a new device he didn’t recognize. It was white, with a green trim around the screen and green belt strap. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve called it a digivice.

Then his screen came to life with a brilliant light. When it faded, Terriermon lay in front of him on his desk, unconscious but still breathing. His mind tried to process everything he was seeing but it was all happening too fast for him to grasp it properly. All he could do was weep into the little digimon before him and beg for forgiveness, “I’m sorry Terriermon. I’m so sorry.”

He could feel the tears streaming down his face as he picked up the small white digimon in front of him, “I didn’t mean for this. I’m so sorry!”

“Hey, watch the water works,” he heard Terriermon mumble softly. He opened his eyes to see Terriermon staring back down with one open eye on him. He breathed a sigh of relief, relieved to see the digimon was alive and well. Without thinking, he squeezed the digimon in his arms and promised, “I swear, I won’t make you fight like that again. I won’t let you get hurt.”

“Ow,” Terriermon protested weakly, “You really suck at keeping promises you know that. You swore you wouldn’t hurt me and you’re still hurting me.”

Henry stifled a laugh, relieved to see the digimon was alive and well.

* * *

Juri Kato was normal by every measure of the word. She was ten years old, slightly taller than most girls her age, liked to wear a green dress and wore her long red hair tied off into pony tail on the side of her head. The only peculiarity with her worth mentioning was the yellow sock puppet in the shape of a dog that she kept on her at all times. 

Of course, any peculiarity she had was overshadowed by her class mate Takato Matsuda. She and her friends arrived early and started talking as they settled into their seats. Then Takato’s friends Kazu and Kenta came running in just as the bell rang to signal the start of class. That was when their teacher Ms. Asaji came in. Miss Asaji was a young woman, with long brown hair that ran down the length of her back which she parted and tucked behind her hair. Despite her stern attitude, Juri could tell that she genuinely cared about her students and wanted them to succeed.

Juri who was in charge of the class that day, led the class with the traditional greeting and bowing to their teacher.

Then their teacher began, “Okay class. I hope you all remembered to do your assignments for today. Pass them to the front of the class for me to collect and I’ll hand out your quizzes. You have ten minutes to get as many right as you can.”

There was a collective groan and Kazu complained, “Again? Come on, Ms. Asaji! That’s the third time this month!”

Their teacher turned on Kazu, “If you spent half as much time studying as you did complaining, you probably wouldn’t be complaining at all, Kazu.”

There was a small giggle from the class until Miss Asaji settled them down and started handing out the quiz for the day. As the papers made their rounds, Juri noticed one desk was empty. And it would be about five minutes into the quiz, when the classroom was absolutely silent, that the back door into the classroom slid open.

Juri turned her head slightly and giggled as she watched the class trouble maker Takato Matsuda sneak in quietly. He was the shortest boy in class, probably only a hair taller than herself, and liked wearing his blue hoodie with brown khaki shorts. He’d barely gone two steps into the room when Ms. Asaji announced, “Don’t think I don’t hear you Takato. You’re late.”

“Well, if you think about it, I’m actually arriving at time I’m supposed to arrive and you’re all just a couple of minutes earlier than I am. So, I think you should give everyone extra credit for that,” Takato countered in a desperate attempt at reasoning with her. It didn’t work. Miss Asaji answered with a sigh, massaging her temple while frowning, “So in your argument, I’m early too?”

“Yeah, they should give you a raise!” he added with a smile. She sighed, “What am I going to do with you? You can stand out in the hallway until next period.”

“ _Can_? I get a choice?” Takato asked, “Then can I sit instead?”

“Just get out!” Miss Asaji snapped, pointing out the door. Takato yelped and ran out of the room while the class laughed hysterically. Juri found herself smiling at his antics. Takato was weird, but he wasn’t mean. And he was always good for a laugh.

She could make out Takato’s silhouette through the hall window, and noticed him sitting down immediately despite being told to stand. It only took Miss Asaji a minute to notice, and she went out to go speak with him. Through the open door, it was hard to miss a word of it, “What are you doing?”

“Drawing,” he answered, sounding unaware of who he was talking to.

“Cartoons?”

“No, it’s a digimon,” Takato answered more irritably, “Don’t you know anythi…thi…this is not as bad as it sounds.”

“Oh, then what does it sound like?” Miss Asaji asked. Takato stammered, “Like a student who’s trying his best to appeal to a kind and forgiving teacher who is completely willing to forgive any bad behavior on account of her belief that everyone deserves a second chance?”

“You’re on chance number thirty-three,” Miss Asaji countered, “And we’re only a few months into the year. That’s at least twice a week you’ve been late, missed an assignment, or wandered off in the middle of class.”

Takato raised up his hands defensively, “In my defense, I was trying to stop anyone from eating the curry yesterday.”

“Don’t do this to me today, Takato. I’ve got a headache. You can stay after class and write an apology letter for your behavior,” Miss Asaji answered as she massaged her head, “Then you can clean up after class.”

“I…okay,” Takato sighed in defeat. Miss Asaji grumbled under her breath as she guided Takato back into class, “You’re just like my brother. Okay class. Let’s start with today’s lesson.”

Juri stifled a laugh, amused by Takato’s antics. He didn’t cause any more trouble for the rest of the day and was oddly quiet afterwards. Juri felt a little sorry for the boy, especially since he was now stuck with the home room clean up by himself.

At the end of the day, Juri collected her things and went to join her friends as they left. They got to talking about what they’d do for the rest of the day, and Juri was about to propose they go hang out in the park when she realized, “Oh oops. I forgot my recorder in class!”

“Who cares? Forget about it! Let’s go do something!”

“Sorry, Ill catch up with you later!” Juri apologized as she started running back to school. Her friends continued on without her as she raced back into the class room, where the last few students were filing out for the day. As she got back into the classroom, she saw Takato banging his head on the piece of paper he had in front of him, “I hate sitting still! How do I make an apology note this long? What am I supposed to write? I’m very, very, very, very sorry? Yeah right!”

He was so caught up in grumbling that he hardly noticed her. Seeing an opportunity to cheer him up, she slipped her sock puppet onto her hand and poked it in his face, “Woof! You were bad today! Woof!”

Takato was startled and nearly fell over backwards out of his seat. Juri giggled and apologized, “Sorry, I just forgot my recorder. Bad recorder! Woof!”

“Uh huh,” Takato nodded as she made her way back to her desk to retrieve it. Seeing he’d calmed down, she lowered the puppet and added, “You’d better get started on that apology note. You have a whole page to write!”

When Takato continued to stare, she became self conscious for the first time and hurried her way out. She took a few steps before sticking her sock puppet back through the door to repeat, “Woof! Hurry up if you want to get home before dark!”

She heard Takato chuckle and knew she’d helped improve his mood. When she got home that night, she found her dad playing with her half brother while her step mom was busy making dinner in the kitchen. She called out, “I’m home!”

“Welcome back!” her dad called back before her mother came out wiping her hands on her apron, “Hey, Juri. Could you do me a favor and run down to the bakery to get some bread for dinner?”

“Uh, sure,” Juri answered sheepishly. Although her step mother had tried her hardest, Juri always had the hardest time interacting with her. She couldn’t admit it, but deep down she missed her real mother. But she passed away years prior from a disease that she never fully recovered from. Her step mom handed her a few bills of heand said, “Get some potato bread and some doughnuts for the morning.”

“Okay,” Juri set her bag down and hurried back out to the local bakery just down the block. The city center was surprisingly busy for a week night, with crowds of people busily making their way home or finishing some shopping. And the inside of the bakery was no different - The Matsuda Family Bakery which was also owned and run by the parents of Takato.

The line to the front was long but moved quickly. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the air, made all the better by the smile on Takato’s mom’s face, “Oh hey Juri. Does your mom want the potato bread again?”

Juri nodded and smiled, “Yeah and some doughnuts for tomorrow morning.”

Takato’s mom laughed, and went about filling two bags with potato bread and rings for her. Then she winked and snuck a few powdered jelly doughnuts in for Juri, “This is our secret, okay?”

“Yes ma’am,” Juri nodded with a smile, holding out the money her mom gave her. Just as Takato’s mom was about to take it, he came running in with his bag over his shoulder, “Mom! Dad, I’m home!”

Takato came in so quickly that he almost knocked over a few of the customers. His mom scolded him, “Takato! No running in the store!”

“Sorry mom,” he apologized, stopping to bow in apology. Then he paused when he noticed Juri was there. It was hard to miss the stunned look in his eyes as he stammered, “Oh, uh, hi Juri.”

Juri snickered, having a good guess on why he was so panicked. She waved and whispered in his ear, “It’s okay, I didn’t tell them about what happened in school today. But you owe me Takato.”

Then she winked and made her way out of the store. As she stepped out, she heard Takato’s mom tease, “Who was that Takato? Was that your girlfriend?”

“MOM!” Takato blurted out in embarrassment. Juri giggled at the reaction and carried on back towards her home. After a small dinner, Juri spent her night practicing on her little wooden recorder and playing with her step brother before going bed.

* * *

Juri was in a long dark hall. She must’ve been no more than six, and her only company was her father sitting alone on a bench. He shook his head and explained, “I’m sorry Juri. Mommy won’t be coming home with us.”

“Why not daddy?” she asked. Her father looked up, “She...she’s sleeping now. Don’t worry about her.”

“But daddy,” she protested only to be scolded, “Don’t Juri!”

Then the room shifted, melting together around her father until he turned into a large blob that screeched in a terrible voice. She panicked and started to run only to be told, “You can’t run Juri! This is the destiny of all things!”

She had no idea what that meant and didn’t want to know. All she knew was that she wanted to escape from this horrible monster. But she couldn’t. And just as she was sure it would take her, someone held out their hand to help. She couldn’t make out who it was but the voice was so familiar to her. There was a comfort to it that put all her worries at ease, “Did someone say destiny?”

She took that hand that meant safety, “I wouldn’t worry about destiny. It’s your life. Do what you want.”

And promptly jolted awake in her bedroom. It was late at night now. She scanned the darkened room for anything amiss and found nothing to occupy her attention. She sighed in relief, knowing that it was all a bad dream and glad there was nothing that could seriously harm her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year's guys. Hope you're enjoying it so far, and thanks for continuing to enjoy this story with me. I've finished crossposting from fanfiction and will now be posting the stories on both sites going forward. If you loved it, let me know either by leaving a comment or some kudos. And don't forget to bookmark the story to keep up with updates. The next chapter will go live next week at 8 PM CDT. Now let's look at previews for the next chapter:  
> That evening, Rika went out with her new partner. Thankfully, they lived in a secluded neighborhood and it wasn't hard to get to the local park without getting noticed. Not that it would've mattered because Renamon had some uncanny ability to disappear and reappear at a moment's notice, like she was simply turning invisible.
> 
> She took a seat at a nearby bench and asked, "Renamon, why do you need me to become stronger?"
> 
> Her partner appeared beside her with arms crossed and explained, "Any digimon can be raised to greatness with a partner. And if your skill is as good as they say, then we can become unstoppable."
> 
> "But why?" Rika asked more seriously. Renamon paused as if considering the question before answering, "It is the way of the Digital World. The weak die so the strong may live. New life grows and challenges the strong. That is always how it's been."
> 
> Rika raised an eyebrow at that before pointing out, "You make it sound like the Digital World is some messed up game."


	2. The School Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Here's some stuff I forgot to mention in the last set of author's notes - the story is going to have plenty of inconsistencies. That's normal. You'll pick up on them right away and that's intended because of the nature of the story; which I can't get into because spoilers. ENJOY!

Hikari "Kari" Kamiya walked into the small noodle stall in a quieter end of Shinjuku and parked herself in the first stool she saw. Behind the counter, her childhood friend Davis Motomiya looked up with a smile on his bearded face, "Hey Kari! Usual?"

"Yeah," she nodded, trying to nurse a headache by massaging her temple but still managing a smile for him. Along with being friends since they were kids, they'd dated in the past but broke off their relationship after high school. Their relationship hadn't soured - rather they realized their lives were taking them in different directions. She wanted to be a teacher and was getting ready to go to school while he had made plans to open a small noodle cart that he'd run with his sister as a co-owner. They were still amicable and she'd often come to visit if she'd had a particularly rough day at work.

He slid a bowl of pork chashu ramen her way and asked, "So how's the class? You still having trouble with those two students? What were their names...Takato and Kazuhiro, right?"

"Yeah. Kazu's not interested in anything besides that card game and Takato's...well he's sort of like a weird cross between you and Takeru," she answered before sipping at the broth. Davis raised an eyebrow, "How's that?"

She scratched her head as she thought about how to phrase her answer and said, "It's like he's got TK's dumb luck and his mouth, but he's got your dress sense and attitude. Honestly, I think he has ADHD but I don't want to take him to a doctor on a hunch."

"That bad, huh?" Davis asked, busily wiping down the counter now but still finding the time to add, "But it sounds like he and I would get along. Maybe he's got my looks too."

Kari nodded in agreement, "Yeah, if you hadn't always tried to spike your hair. Today he came in late and tried to sneak in, but it was hard to miss how loud he was being. I caught him right away and then he tried to argue that he didn't do anything wrong - he tried to say we were early!"

Davis laughed at the story, "Damn, I'd sock him if he were my kid."

"Sometimes I want to smack him with the text book," Kari added with just the slightest hint of frustration as she confessed to a hard truth, "Man, I kinda feel bad for all the trouble we caused our teachers when we were that age: sneaking out of class, disappearing for hours at time. At least told our parents what we were doing."

"We had more important things to do," Davis reminded her. Then she fell quiet again. Davis and her stared into each other's eyes - both thinking the same thing but neither wanting to be the one to go there. Then Davis asked, "Do you ever miss them?"

Kari nodded quietly and answered, "Every day. But what good would come of worrying about it? Besides, if you think about it, not seeing them again is sort of a good thing. If we haven't seen them, that means that they're okay and everything's fine, right?"

"What makes you so sure that's true?" he asked. Kari shrugged, ashamed to admit what she truly thought, "Wishful thinking mostly. To be honest, there are day that I'm scared where the whole Digital World is going to hell and we're not there for them."

"Have you heard anything from TK?" Davis asked sheepishly, in his attempt to change the topic but realizing that he'd only brought up another sore topic. Kari paused at that question. She really hadn't - not since his last book came out. It took a while but his novelizations of their adventures became best sellers, spawning a TV show, and a card game that caught on with kids. Despite being a celebrity, he quietly disappeared into obscurity - some people thought he was just working on his next book. But Kari knew better than that - it wasn't like him to disappear, "Not in a while. I worry about him too. He always seemed a little paranoid after...well...but it wasn't like him to just disappear."

Davis stared back at uneasily. So she changed the subject, "How's the wife?"

"She and my sister hang out too much, but our son likes playing with his cousin," Davis answered quietly, "So I can't complain too much about it. Speaking of kids-"

"No," Kari stopped him there, "And we're not discussing that."

Davis paused, realizing he might've stepped too far. And yet, that did nothing to stop him from making it worse, "Then how's the ex?"

Kari wanted to be mad at first. He knew her last break up was also another touchy subject. Then she relented when she considered Davis meant nothing by it. Years after they'd first met and he still wasn't very good with this kind of thing. So she made a joke of it and talked about him instead, "We still talk. He makes me ramen every time I come over and it's always good."

Davis laughed and added, "And he gives it to you half price."

* * *

That evening, Rika went out with her new partner. Thankfully, they lived in a secluded neighborhood and it wasn't hard to get to the local park without getting noticed. Not that it would've mattered because Renamon had some uncanny ability to disappear and reappear at a moment's notice, like she was simply turning invisible.

She took a seat at a nearby bench and asked, "Renamon, why do you need _me_ to become stronger?"

Her partner appeared beside her with arms crossed and explained, "Any digimon can be raised to greatness with a partner. And if your skill is as good as they say, then we can become unstoppable."

"But why?" Rika asked more seriously. Renamon paused as if considering the question before answering, "It is the way of the Digital World. The weak die so the strong may live. New life grows and challenges the strong. That is always how it's been."

Rika raised an eyebrow at that before pointing out, "You make it sound like the Digital World is some messed up game."

"Perhaps," Renamon answered, "But it has been that way for a long time. Since the gates closed and the Digital World was made truly free. There is some semblance of order - strong digimon create their own little kingdoms. But it's ever long before someone else comes along to destroy it. Then the new strong digimon start over with their own lands."

"Sounds rough," Rika nodded just as her digivice started to whistle. She looked down to examine it and jumped in surprise when she saw a new image on screen resembling a radar. And it was pointing her at something, "What gives?"

"I sense a digimon is entering your world," Renamon answered, turning her head in the direction that Rika's radar was beeping. Rika swallowed a forming lump in her throat, shaking from a mix of anticipation and anxiety, "R-right. Let's go."

The two of them ran further into the park, in the direction of a tennis court that was slowly being consumed by a dense fog. Rika pauses and looked at her partner, "Renamon?"

"A Digital Field," Renamon explained, throwing herself forward to defend her partner, "It's how digimon appear in the Human World. Be ready, Rika. We will have to fight!"

"G-got it," Rika nodded, nervous and just as easily excited for her first battle. As the fog grew thicker, her eyes began to sting and she needed to squint just to be able to see clearly. They saw the outline of a digimon that was just a head taller than herself, made taller by the spiky hair atop its head and long gorilla arms. Just by the outline, Rika recognized the digimon, "It's a Goblimon!"

"What should I do, Rika?" her partner asked quickly. Rika looked over at the fox with a stunned look on her face, "You're asking me?"

"You're the tamer, here. Tell me what I need to do to win and I'll do it," Renamon answered. Rika nodded her understanding and watched Goblimon stomp forward angrily. They were both rookies, and one hit would be all Goblimon would need to defeat Renamon. But if she could use that disappearing act of hers to her advantage, she'd be untouchable. She shouted, "Keep moving Renamon! Don't let him touch you!"

"Understood," Renamon took off just as Goblimon brought his club down. As Rika figures, he was too slow to actually keep up with her. And that meant she could put him on the ropes. Goblimon continued to swing his club wildly, chasing Renamon as she leapt around the park. A few times, she would let him get close so that she could kick him before leaping away. As fast as she was, Goblimon was just too strong for her to take down quickly.

She looked down at her digivice. It had been her card reader just last night. It may have changed shape, but there was no reason it wouldn't still work. She didn't have her deck but she did have a few spare cards left over from a booster pack she'd bought earlier that day. When she examined them for the one she needed and found it, she smiled with an intense glee she hadn't felt before. With a quick swipe of the card, Rika shouted, "Strength Boost Activate!"

Goblimon brought his club down on Renamon, and was dismayed to see her catch it between her palms. He was more dismayed as he watched her throw it back full force upon his head. The first hit knocked Goblimon silly. Then Renamon followed through by kicking hard into his chest to push herself into the air. Rika cheered and added, "Alright Renamon! Let's end this!"

Renamon complied and brought her hands together to summon a hundred crystals around her with. She shouted, "Diamond storm!"

The crystals shot themselves at Goblimon, ripping the rookie digimon apart until he disintegrated into a cloud of tiny data specks. The bits and pieces of data hovered in the air and Rika's jaw dropped. It was just like in the shows and books she'd read. Once the Goblimon was defeated, he'd become data. They hadn't mentioned that digimon could absorb it though, which was exactly what Renamon did as the data all coalesced around her. The yellow fox took a moment to steady herself once she finished, and noticed Rika staring at her. The fox put a hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright, Rika?"

"Yeah, just startled," she answered nervously, still trying to process what she saw. Renamon had absorbed the data from the defeated Goblimon. This was nothing like the show or the books. It took her a moment but she was able to steady her nerves and compliment her partner, "Great work."

"Thank you, tamer," she nodded. Rika suddenly felt drained despite not having done much. Maybe it was the adrenaline wearing off after being caught up in the middle of a fight. Either way, all she wanted was to lie down in her bed, "Let's go home."

* * *

Henry unzipped his backpack so that Terriermon could poke his head out to breathe. The little digimon gasped for breath, "Couldn't you have put in a few air holes?"

"Sorry Terriermon. We're in school now so you need to keep quiet," Henry reminded him only for the little digimon to frown, "Can't I make a little noise?"

"Do you want me to start leaving you at home with Suzie?" he asked back. He saw the look of terror on Terriermon's face as he recalled how his little sister had dressed him up in a pink dress and called him Princess Pretty Pants. Henry told him he'd have to hold perfectly still like a doll whenever his family was around. And having to endure his treatment as a doll for his little sister. would've been too much for the digimon. He sighed, "I'll be good. But I want extra helpings of food tonight."

"Deal," Henry answered. Then Terriermon's nose twitched and he turned his head to the side, "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Henry looked around the half empty class nervously. He could smell the kids who'd obviously skipped baths that day but nothing else. Terriermon replies at above a whisper, "I smell a digimon."

Henry looked around nervously, unsure of where his partner would be smelling that that before asking, "Are you sure you're not smelling yourself?"

Terriermon nodded and said at just above a whisper, "Very funny. Wait. That's not good. I smell two."

* * *

Juri made her way to the nurse's office to lie down after a long and tired night left her unable to sleep. She could barely focus in class and Miss Asaji took notice right away. After explaining what happened, the nurse told her to take as much time as she needed to sleep.

Despite being dead tired, Juri found herself unable to fall asleep and ended up laying in bed for a while with her eyes closed. Part of her kept thinking back to that dream she'd had. The strange person who saved her from destiny, and the horrible monster that chased her. What could it all mean?

While she thought on this, she heard the nurse's foot steps as she stepped out for a minute. She was alone now. So why did she hear a rattling noise? Her eyes opened as she looked around the nurse's office. She was alone, except for the soft rattling. Juri raised a curious eyebrow as she followed the noise to its source - the medicine cabinet just above the nurse's desk. She continued on, trying her best to put on a brave face until she was in front of it.

The rattling grew louder inside, and her heart began to race as she considered what could be inside. In fear, she grabbed the first thing she found in reach and armed herself - with a broom. Whatever was in there would find itself in for a world of hurt. She reached out a free hand and slid open the cabinet only to find pill bottles, gauze, and boxes of band aids. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see it was just her imagination when she noticed something move just behind the pill bottles.

Something small, with big round eyes staring up at her. It let out a small squeak and flew out of the medicine cabinet - past Juri and scurrying along the floor until it was under the bed. Juri did the only thing she could think of and screamed at the top of her lungs, "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

At that exact moment, the nurse returned from her errand and rushed inside, "What's going on in here?"

Juri pointed under the bed, "A monster! It jumped out of the medicine cabinet and ran under the bed!"

The nurse's face soured, "A monster? Don't be ridiculous! It's probably a rat or something. Give me that!"

She snatched the broom away and made her way over to the bed, "Let's see. Where'd you go? Come out, come out, wherever you are. AH-HAH!"

She jabbed the broom under the bed and rattled it around until the little critter came scurrying out of the bed. It stopped in the middle of the room and seemed to glare at the nurse for a second. Then it spoke, "What was that for you big meany? That hurt!"

Juri's mouth fell open and the nurse dropped the broom in disbelief. Then they shrieked together at the same time, "IT TALKED!"

"RUN!"

Both ran out of the room and slammed the door shut behind them, terrified by whatever it was they just saw. Their screaming attracted attention from the surrounding classrooms and a few teachers came outside to investigate. The commotion even attracted the principal who came to investigate from his office, "What is going on out here?"

"There's a thing in my office!" the nurse explained in a panic, "This thing the size of my head! It crawled out from under the bed!"

"Calm down," the principal said, "It was just a bug. There's no need to cause a scene!"

"It wasn't a bug!" the nurse spat back angrily, "It was hairy!"

"Then it was probably a mouse," he reasoned only to be rebuked, "MICE DON'T TALK! It called me a meanie and it looked right at me."

The principal looked her square in the eye and instructed, "Calm down! Obviously you're stressed and imagined it. Just take a deep breath and-"

"Stressed? Then how do you explain this!" she slid the door open for the principal to look. He stepped inside and took one look around before answering, "I don't see anything. Listen. Why don't you take a break and get some water. Maybe clear your head with a small walk?"

"I didn't imagine it! Juri saw it too, didn't you?" the nurse insisted. The principal looked at Juri with a raised eyebrow before turning his attention back to the nurse, "This has gone on long enough. I order you to end this nonsense and take a break. The same goes for the rest of you! Return to your classes at once."

As the crowd dispersed, Juri looked back into the nurse's office - at the open medicine cabinet and the bed she'd been lying on. Something was off but she couldn't place it. And then she noticed one small detail the principal had missed - the window was open. The monster had gotten out. Before she could point that out, the principal had dragged the nurse into his office and left Juri alone in the hall. Except for one other person - Takato Matsuda.

There was something different about him today, although she couldn't quite place it. Then it hit her! He was wearing a pair of yellow goggles on his head now. When had he gotten those? As she mulled it over, he ran up to her and asked, "Are you all right Juri?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine Takato," she stammered, "I...guess I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

Takato's face twisted into a worried expression and he asked, "What did you see?"

"What?" Juri paused. Takato added, "It didn't happen to look like a dinosaur did it?"

Juri shook her head in surprise by the question, "No...what? Why?"

Takato's face seemed more relaxed but he didn't answer Juri's question. And that made her nervous, "Wait, Takato. Did you have something to do with this?"

"Huh, oh, just curious," Takato answered as he waved her off, "Don't worry about it. I have to um...go help grade homework. No, that's too ridiculous. You'd never buy that. Um...I have to go to the bathroom. I'll see you back in class."

And then he ran off without another word. Juri massaged her temple and looked back into the nurse's office one more time in case something else was there. Nothing. She sighed and made her way back to class, not at all rested and now certain she was losing her mind. Unbeknownst to her, someone else had been listening in on their conversation.

* * *

Henry poked his head around the corner in time for Terriermon to poke his head out of the bag, "What do you think? Are you going to follow the kid?"

"Will you please keep it quiet," Henry reminded his partner only to be asked more quietly, "Well, are you?"

"We should check it out," Henry answered quietly, poking his head out to make sure the coast was clear before following in the direction of the Takato kid. He'd heard of him before. He was something of a troublemaker in his class but never maliciously. It was more like he'd run into trouble and stumble his way out only to get into more trouble. He was sure it was rumors until he'd witnessed the boy lie to another student's face, admit it was a lie, and then come up with a less believable lie. All while talking out loud to the person he was lying to.

As he followed Takato's direction, he quietly asked his partner, "I love the digimon games Terriermon, but I've never heard of a red dinosaur digimon that could fit inside a school."

"Maybe it's a small Tyrannomon?" Terriermon offered.

"That can fit under a bed?" Henry shot back. Terriermon added, "A _very_ small Tyrannomon."

Henry groaned and continued on until he found his way outside, towards the kitchen in a separate building where students would go to help make lunch for their classes. To his delight, and the cooks' dismay, all the food had been eaten for the day as well as several days worth of ingredients. Henry was satisfied to hear that, "I guess that means no stale bread or extra spicy curry for a couple of days. Remind me to thank the digimon whenever we find it."

"That digimon's gotta be as big as a balloon if he ate all that food. There's no way we can miss it," Terriermon added slyly. Henry shook his head, "You said you smelled two digimon, right? This one has got to be unrelated."

"How are you so sure?" Terriermon asked and Henry explained, "I'm supposed to believe one digimon went from the nurse's office to the kitchen, ate that much food and then vanished in the space of about two minutes? Yeah right."

"So where do we go now?" Terriermon asked. Right on cue, Henry noticed Takato sneaking by the kitchen and towards a box that was moving on its own towards the gymnasium. Henry blinked again. So not only was Takato bad at lying, he was bad at hiding his digimon. A large innocuous box that could move would definitely draw more attention. He pointed at it, "We follow that. If Takato has a digimon, we'd better go talk to him."

"This kid has to be terrible at everything he does," Terriermon reasoned.

He ran off and Terriermon yelped inside of his backpack, bouncing around and complaining, "Henry! Slow down! I'm hitting everything in here!"

"We can't lose either of them Terriermon," Henry answered, continuing after the boy and the moving box with a tail. He eventually caught up to Takato standing alone in the middle of the soccer field with one hand scratching the back of his head and mumbling to himself, "How did I lose a box? It's not like it's hard to miss, especially with his tail sticking out. Guilmon, where did you go?"

Henry stopped just short of Takato, noticing the boy still hadn't noticed he was there and tapped him on the shoulder. Takato jumped in surprise, turning to see Henry there and exclaiming, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Henry raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, trying to decide how to begin, "Hey, did you...lose a digimon?"

"Digimon?"

"Yeah, you said Guilmon," Henry added, "You have a digimon too, don't you?"

"I have a deck of digimon _cards_ ," Takato answered, retrieving a deck of cards from his pocket, "I lost one and I'm trying to find it. It was in a box if you see it."

Henry couldn't believe his ears. Takato was lying to his face. Then again, he had no reason to trust Henry so he tried a different approach and opened up his bag, "It's okay. I have a digimon too. This is my friend Terriermon."

Takato peered into the bag and seemed unimpressed. Henry looked inside the bag and saw Terriermon lying still. Unconscious, probably from having been jostled around inside his bag so much. Takato nodded, "That's a very life like doll you have there. Its cool. Where'd you get it?"

"No, he's just out of it," Henry answered, trying to write his partner, "Terriermon! Terriermon! Come on buddy, don't do this to me. Terriermon."

As he tried to wake his partner in vain, he noticed Takato's eyes shift into something behind him. Then they widened in surprise. He nodded towards Henry, "Must dash. I just saw my friend but we can talk about digimon later. Bye!"

He dashed off and Henry watched him disappear around a corner. Henry sighed and looked back down at Terriermon. He couldn't lose the kid so he slipped Terriermon out of his bag before giving chase again, "Hey wait!"

It was too late by that point. Somehow, he managed to lose Takato just as the boy rounded a corner. Henry had no idea how anyone could move that fast or disappear that quickly. He scanned the school yard again to make sure he hadn't lost them before sighing, and making his way back inside. At that moment, Terriermon jolted awake in his arms, "I'm up! What'd I miss?"

"Not much," Henry answered, "I caught up to Takato but he didn't believe you were real because you were out cold. Then he ran off and I don't know where he went."

"You're not great at this," Terriermon replied matter of factly. Henry groaned and quietly snuck back into the school to avoid drawing any more attention, all while whispering, "You're just as new at this as I am."

"Not really. In the DigiWorld, you'd be dead by now because you can't track and you can't hide," Terriermon replied. This only served to discourage Henry further. In truth, Terriermon was probably the only one who had any knowledge when it would come to this kind of thing. His nose was the one that began the whole tracking thing too.

"Moumantai," Terriermon replied. Henry blinked upon hearing that and looked down at the digimon poking his head out of his bag. He asked, "Where'd you hear that?"

"It's a thing all Terriermon way," he replied, "Some Terriermon a long time ago started saying it. It caught on. Now we all say it."

Henry blinked, recalling a similar line in the digimon books he'd read, "You do know that's a word in the human world, right?"

"Is it?" Terriermon asked curiously, "That sounds silly."

Henry crowned at his partner's carefree attitude, "It's not. It's Cantonese and it means relax. You don't happen to know where that Terriermon learned it, do you?"

"Nah," Terriermon shook his head dismissively, "That Terriermon was alive a long time ago. If they're still around, they'd be as wrinkly as your dad."

Henry stifled a laugh as he made his way back to the classroom.

* * *

At the end of the school day that day, Rika departed her school and wandered over to the nearest park. Mostly, she just wanted to get off the street so she could talk to her partner. She could feel her partner's presence all around her that day. And when her partner suddenly appeared beside her, Rika asked, "How do you do that Renamon? That whole disappearing-reappearing act. It's weird."

"You mean my leaping?" Renamon replied, "I suppose that's how it would seem to you. For me, I'm simply leaping from one place to the next. But it's possible it's too fast for you to properly perceive."

Rika nodded quietly and turned to her partner, "Great. You move so quick that no one can see you do it. That means our enemies will never see what they have coming their way. But that still doesn't mean much if you can't hurt your enemy. Yesterday, Goblimon would've taken you down if I didn't-"

She stopped when Renamon held up a finger and looked off to the side. Rika froze and turned her head in the same direction, unsure of what Renamon had sensed. Then Renamon answered, "Someone is coming. Not a digimon, the smell is different."

"Crap, hide!" Rika began, only to look back and see that Renamon had already vanished - leaving her alone in the woods. Then she looked back in the direction Renamon had stared to see a woman jogging her way. Despite the warm weather they'd had for a few days, this jogger was decked out in thick sweat pants and a sweater. And the heat showed on how heavily she was sweating. Rika stepped back to get out of her way, only to see the woman stop; jogging in place in front of her. She turned her head and asked, "What are you doing out here by yourself sweetheart? It's way too dangerous to be in a park alone."

"Whatever, mind your own business," Rika scowled, annoyed at this woman for even thinking to talk to her. She pocketed her hands and walked in the direction the jogger came down while the jogger continued her jog. Once she'd reached a more secluded area with a shrine, Rika spoke again, "I think we're safe, Renamon."

"Why was that woman running?" her partner asked. Rika mulled the question over and realized Renamon had probably only seen digimon running for their lives, "She was jogging. It's a thing people do. Some people do it for training; but if I had to guess, she was doing it for appearance's sake. She wants to look all pretty and runs to keep the weight off. It's stupid."

"So she runs to make herself appear more beautiful?" Renamon tilted her head in confusion, "Human behavior is weird."

"Tell me about it," Rika sighed in agreement.

* * *

The female jogger reached the other end of the park where an unmarked white van sat on the side of the street. She knocked on its door and it popped open a crack to reveal a blonde haired man in shades and a suit waiting for her. The man asked, "Is the park clear, Tally?"

"Mostly. One little girl but she should be out of there by now. I told her to leave," the jogger replied. The man nodded and slid the door wide open so that a team in full hazmat suits could step out. Three of them carried Geiger-counters while the other two were armed with assault rifles. The man in shades instructed, "Scan the park and secure the target. We need it alive so non-lethal shots only. And move fast. I don't want Burnt Leaf interfering in this operation again."

"Yes sir," the men said as they rushed into the forest. The blonde haired man removed his shades and massaged the bridge of his nose. The woman looked back at him and asked, "Are you alright, sir?"

"Yes, just another long night. And I think I see another one coming," he replied quietly, "Whenever we get back to headquarters, make some coffee."

"Of course sir," she nodded, looking back into the park and wondering what their chances were. They'd lost plenty of operatives in operations like this. Hopefully, they wouldn't lose another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who are these strange men and what are they after in the park? Will Rika and Renamon be okay? What was the strange creature that Juri found in the nurse's office? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name which comes out next Friday January 18th at 8 PM CST. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section - I love all your thoughts and constructive criticism too! Don't forget to favorite the story to show support and follow to keep up with all the latest updates! That's all for now, so let's jump right into previews for the next chapter:
> 
> She paused, turning her head and stating, "Five more just entered the park. No, there's six."
> 
> "More digimon?" she asked. Renamon shook her head and began, "No. More humans. I think. This feels different. We should go."
> 
> "Why?" Rika asked just as her partner vanished. Rika stood up and looked around her, unsure of what her partner had defected to get her so worked up. The forest surrounding the shrine was coear and that made Rika nervous. Just as she was sure her partner had imagined things, she heard a rustling in the bushes behind her. She spun around and called out, "Who's there? Come out!"
> 
> When she got no reply, she called again, "I'm not kidding! Come out!"
> 
> Still nothing. She picked up a stone from the ground and threw it into the bushes. She heard a yelp and a short boy with a blue hoodie and khaki shorts poked his head out. What immediately struck Rika was the pair of yellow goggles he was wearing on his head. With tears in his eye, the boy massaged his head and grumbled, "Ow! What was that for?"


	3. Goggle Headed Moron

Rika massaged her temple as she went on explaining the concept of physical appearances to her partner, "Some people get really obsessed with appearances. It's really dumb. As if that actually matters."

Renamon tilted her head, "That sounds like something you'd say, tamer."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Rika asked in annoyance, folding her arms behind her head, "My name is Rika. Why do you keep calling me tamer?"

Renamon tilted her head, "But isn't that-"

She paused, turning her head and stating, "Five more just entered the park. No, there's six."

"More digimon?" she asked. Renamon shook her head and began, "No. More humans. I think. This feels different. We should go."

"Why?" Rika asked just as her partner vanished. Rika stood up and looked around her, unsure of what her partner had defected to get her so worked up. The forest surrounding the shrine was calm and that made Rika nervous. Just as she was sure her partner had imagined things, she heard a rustling in the bushes behind her. She spun around and called out, "Who's there? Come out!"

When she got no reply, she called again, "I'm not kidding! Come out!"

Still nothing. She picked up a stone from the ground and threw it into the bushes. She heard a yelp and a short boy with a blue hoodie and khaki shorts poked his head out. What immediately struck Rika was the pair of yellow goggles he was wearing on his head. With tears in his eye, the boy massaged his head and grumbled, "Ow! What was that for?"

"What are you doing skulking around in the bushes, gogglehead?" Rika asked with a pointed finger. The boy stood up, shooting her a dirty look as he massaged his head, "I lost...something and I'm looking for it. What's your deal? Is throwing stones how you normally greet people? It's rude and hurts the other person. Not a great way to make friends."

Rika felt her blood boil at that, "You can talk, gogglehead. I bet you get a lot of friends skulking around in the bushes like that."

"I said I'm looking for something. You haven't happened to see a box wandering around have you?" he asked back innocently enough, gesturing out its size with his hands. Rika raised an eyebrow, "A box?"

"You know: brown, cardboard, kinda flimsy but surprisingly sturdy for some reason. Probably a few dents from bumping into things. It's big enough to hide...I mean hold...it's big," he rambled off nonspecifically. She clicked her tongue in frustration, "Yeah, I know what a box is, you idiot."

"You don't have to call me names," the boy replied sheepishly. Rika put a hand on both of her hips and complained, "I'll call you whatever I want. What's the big deal about this box anyway? And if it's so big, why are you looking for it in the bushes?"

"In case it dug a hole," he replied quickly. Rika's face twisted into a scowl, "What did you lose? A dog?"

"Would you believe a fire breathing red dinosaur from another world that can talk?" he asked sheepishly. Rika's eyes narrowed as she considered the possibility. He couldn't be but it sounded like he was talking about a digimon. But where would he get a digimon? As far as she knew she was the only one with a partner. Then again, the books did say there were always more than one child with a digimon partner. But she didn't dare reveal that to him without risking the chance that he would tell someone who would get her in trouble. She chose her words carefully, "What...like a digimon card?"

"Something like that," he replied as he kept looking around. Rika massaged her temple to nurse the growing headache she was getting from talking to this idiot, not knowing what other answer she was expecting. If he had a digimon, why would he tell her? Then again, if he had a digimon partner, he couldn't be a good partner to have lost it already. This kid was more annoying than she wanted to deal with, "That card is long gone by now, moron. Give up!"

"Name calling is not very p...oh, hello. Are those friends of yours?"

He pointed off just behind her at a pair of men advancing their way. Two things struck her right away - the large white hazmat suits they were wearing and the assault rifle one of them was holding. She gasped and leapt into the bushes right away as they stepped up to the temple she had been standing in front of. The goggle headed boy asked, "So they're not friends?"

"Why would they be my friends?" Rika hissed at just a whisper, growing increasingly annoyed with the boy. He shrugged, "I don't know your life story. I was trying not to judge. But if they're not friends of yours, then I hope you don't mind if I do this."

"What are you doing?" she hissed. He picked up a stone beside them and threw it as hard as he could at a tree on the opposite side of the temple. The two men turned to face the noise, and the boy grabbed a hold of her hand and whispered, "While they're distracted. Let's get out of here."

Before she could even try to come up with a protest to holding her hand, they took off at a sprint away from the temple. She was about to gasp but realized that this would only make the weird men look back at them, so she grit her teeth and followed this weird goggle headed kid through the trees until they came out on the other side of the park.

It was only when they were safely away from the park that Rika snapped her wrist free of the boy and demanded, "What gives? What's your deal!?"

He hardly noticed her complaint, instead scratching the back of his head, "Well that's not good. What would a bunch of guys be doing walking around dressed like that?"

Rika has an idea but she didn't dare say anything with This weirdo around. Instead she looked back into the park, wondering if Renamon was okay in there by herself. She hoped so. The last thing she wanted was to lose her partner in a worse way than this kid just had. What kind of partner would that make her to be less competent than the kid wearing goggles?

Before she could think of a response, the kid dashed back in. She stood there dumb struck by his bravery before following him back in, "Where are you going!? You just ran away and now you're running back in?"

"I can be very indecisive, what's your excuse?" he asked back at her, continuing into the park and straight back into the trees. Rika tried her best to keep up with the boy but slowly fell behind. She wasn't out of shape but any means but his smaller build made it easier for him to move through the trees and brush. Before she knew it, she'd lost him in the brush. Then she stopped, looking around in disbelief and stamping her foot in frustration, "Where'd he get to? Forget it. Renamon? Renamon!? Where are you?"

* * *

Renamon moved through the trees and retreated up to a safe distance among the branches, while her partner began talking to a strange boy in a blue hoodie below. She turned head curiously, unsure of what to think of this new boy who'd just appeared out of nowhere. Although she was too high up to see, she could hear what they were saying perfectly - and felt nothing short of concern for her partner's safety and well being during it.

Just by listening, she could tell the boy was looking for a digimon. But this new world had thrown off her senses. She was unable to properly smell any dangers until they were nearby. If they were too far away, this digimon could easily get the drop on her before she would be able to do anything about it.

Then she watched her partner disappear just as more humans appeared, and she followed after them to make sure she stayed safe. The boy and Rika hid in the bushes, before he threw a stone to distract the other humans and they ran off. She pondered what this meant - since her partner had never done anything to indicate she was nervous or scared before. So why was she scared now? Who were those people. They seemed like ordinary humans as far as she was concerned. Yes, they were dressed weird, but all humans dressed weird as far as she could tell. Why not just go about as they were?

Then she paused when she smelled a new scent - one she didn't recognize. It was a digimon, but it was wrapped in the scent of the human world. It reeked of humans, their food, their clothes, everything. She turned towards the scent and witnessed a small imp like creature wearing a red scarf and matching gloves staring at her from a higher branch. Despite its appearance, the digimon was weaker than anything she'd come up against.

"Who are you?" she asked. The imp-like digimon, "Sorry toots, but I don't go aroun' givin' out my name just cos' a pretty face asked. Especially to no digimon who don't respect themself enough to decide to work with humans."

Renamon thought about that statement for a second, confused by the number of negatives in his statement and then asked, "Wait - you don't like digimon who have human partners or you do like digimon with human partners?"

The little digimon ignored her question and leapt down to get a closer look at her with his hand on is chin, "Why do you work with that human anyways? Them humans are more trouble than they's worth. They don't actually care about you, y'know? All they care about is whatever you can do for 'em. Once they don't need you no more, they'll leave."

"That's fine with me," Renamon replied, noting the surprised look on this digimon's face, "All I want is to get stronger anyway. Something is coming - something that's sent the whole of the Digital World into a panic. And only the strong will survive."

"It's not the strong who'll survive sweet heart," the digimon teased with a stuck out tongue, "I've learned a few things while I've been wandering the human world. The first is that the strongest don't survive. It's the smartest who do - if you want to get any where in this world, you've gotta be smart. And I don't mean like with 'em books. You can have that nugget of advice fo' free."

"That advice is noted," Renamon folded her arms, "Now who are you?"

"Ah-ah!" The digimon wagged its finger with a smile, "What's yours?'

Renamon turned her head, curious of this digimon before answering, "Renamon."

"Hmph," the digimon smirked mischievously, "Not a smart move Renamon. Then again, I can tell yous a new digimon 'round here. So I'll make it even - the name's Impmon."

"Impmon," Renamon repeated quietly as the little imp digimon made his way, "Last nugget of advice: ditch the human. You don't need 'em."

He leapt away, leaving her along to ponder the meaning of his words. Impmon was odd although perhaps not the oddest digimon she's met. Most of them usually just attacked on sight so this was a welcome change. It did leave her wondering just what this digimon had been doing in this world without a human partner. Or did he have one that he chose to ignore?

She would have to ruminate on those questions later as another noise caught her attention - the arrival of more human dressed oddly meant that she had to move again or risk being spotted by them. she leapt away from one tree branch to another, trying to put as much distance between her and these men. She retreated further away into the park - then froze as her sense went crazy. She could feel it - another digimon was coming.

And Rika was all alone in the middle of it. She stopped in her tracks to examine the humans again - against her better judgment, she went after her partner. She couldn't just abandon her to whatever was coming.

* * *

Rika looked up and down the trees for the danger but couldn't find anything - no goggle headed boy and no Renamon any where. There weren't even any of the strangely dressed men with guns and weird tools anymore. It didn't seem possible because the park was so small, but there was no other way for her to describe it. She was lost. Lost in a park she'd been to dozens of times before with no familiar sights around to guide her. She looked upward to see if she could make out any buildings that she could use as landmarks to get her bearing but saw only clouds.

Thick white clouds.

That wasn't right. It had been sunny just moments ago. Where did the clouds come from? She got her answer when her digivice began to alarm and whir. She retrieved from her pocket, trying to turn the alarm off but noticing that the radar on it was active again. And it said there was a digimon appearing nearby. She panicked, realizing what was about to happen and called out, "Renamon!"

Renamon appeared beside her, rapidly gasping for breath, "I'm here. I'm glad I found you and that you're alright!"

"What took you so long?" Rika grumbled as she tried to focus on what was ahead of her. The fog encroaching on them was beginning to hurt her eyes and made seeing difficult, "I hope you brought your A-game because there's a digimon coming."

"I can sense it Rika. And whatever it is, it's hungry. It isn't coming to grow stronger, it's coming to find its next meal."

Rika clicked her tongue angrily, "Well whatever it is, it just bit off more than it can chew! Let's make sure it chokes."

"Was…was that supposed to sound cool?" Renamon looked back at her partner. Rika scoffed at the idea that it wasn't, "What do you mean supposed?"

The fact that Renamon didn't answer and instead looked ahead annoyed Rika - but not enough to actually do anything about it. They still had to face whatever was coming through from the Digital World. At that exact moment, an image appeared on the screen to reveal, "Dokugumon, that spider digimon with the nasty bite. Of course that's the one that's trying to get through."

As soon as she said those words, the spider digimon appeared before through the fog - an eight legged monster with more fangs than she wanted to count and long flowing red hair coming out of its yellow helmet. The spider saw them right away and hissed, "FOOD!"

"Renamon! Show it what you've got!" Rika commanded.

"Of course," Renamon raced ahead and leapt into the air, summoning a hail of crystals that rained down upon them, "DIAMOND STORM!"

The crystals fell on their target, burying themselves into its body but failing to do anything to slow it down. In fact, it seemed like all they'd really managed to accomplish was annoying their target more than anything. The spider advanced on Renamon and cackled with delight, "I like it when my food puts up a fight! It makes it taste better!"

Renamon wasn't intimidated by the spider's taunt and advanced instead to fight the digimon head on - leaping up to kick and scratch at its head. The spider tried to keep up, and its many legs gave it all the advantage it needed to keep up with Renamon's speed. But that just made it more of a challenge for Rika and for Renamon.

And Rika knew exactly the kind of card she'd need for this scenario, "Agility Boost Activate!"

Right away, Renamon's movements became faster and more precise, as she dove and weaved through Dokugumon's many legs to keep her distance. All this did was annoy the spider further as it tried grabbing at its meal more in vain. With each attempt at a grab, Rika noticed that Dokugumon was slowing down until Renamon was simply side stepping each attack. They had worn it down. Now was the easy part - ending it.

She was about to shout out her next command when Dokugumon cried out, "POISON THREAD!"

A sticky web shot out of the end of her mouth and wrapped up Renamon - pinning her to the side of a tree. Rika gasped in shock, surprised to see her partner immobilized so easily and unsure of what to do now, "Renamon! What gives? How did that hit you? You're moving twice as fast as that is!"

"I'm sorry Rika," Renamon grunted, trying to free herself while Dokugumon paused to catch her breath. She looked between the two, contemplating what she should do to help while Renamon declared, "I'll try to break free."

"DINNER TIME!" Dokugumon growled ecstatically, moving into consume her partner. Rika groaned, shuffling through her deck as quickly as she could to find some way to help Renamon break free. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything that could and nothing in her deck seemed like it would be of any use. Her panic turned into a full blown terror as she watched Dokugumon stop just short of Renamon and stick out a long slimy tongue to lick Renamon, "So tasty."

"When I get out of here, I'm going to enjoy destroying you!" Renamon hissed bitterly at the digimon. Dokugumon seemed amused by her empty threat and looked ready to savor the moment. She opened her mouth wide to take her first big bite out of Renamon's face, and was promptly leapt upon by a strange red dinosaur with what looked like bat wings for ears.

Rika and Renamon found their jaws falling open as the dinosaur tackled Dokugumon from the side, making the large digimon roll over and thrash violently as it tried to throw the new opponent off its back. Still, nothing Dokugumon could do would shake the digimon off - and the red digimon was in some kind of crazed frenzy as it attacked the digimon viciously. It didn't care at all about either Renamon or Rika - only Dokugumon and ripping it apart apparently.

Rika stared down at her digivice, hoping it would provide some kind of clue about what she was looking at. But so far - nothing. Her digivice displayed something that looked like an error message but in some kind of language she couldn't understand. This dinosaur was terrifying to look at - something that was more monstrous and violent than the Dokugumon trying to eat her partner.

Then the dinosaur leapt off of Dokugumon's back and growled at it. Dokugumon seemed taken aback by it - trying to process this new digimon that had run into danger to save another. While it was distracted, Rika ran to help free her partner. Renamon struggled against the web, "Rika, the bindings are too strong."

"Yeah, I know," Rika grunted, pulling at the webs to free Renamon, "Gah, what is this made of?"

"Have you tried using scissors?"

Rika and Renamon looked over to see the boy in the blue hoodie again holding up a pair of scissors with a dumb smile on his face. Rika's jaw dropped but then she snatched the scissors out of his hand and started cutting away the web, "Where'd you go goggle head?"

"I found the box," the boy replied with a half smile, picking up a rock from the ground and slamming it into the tree to try and tear off some of the bark, "Of course, it helped that it followed all the fighting and screaming."

Rika looked over her shoulder at the large red digimon ripping apart Dokugumon with his claws, "The box? You mean that weird digimon over there? How could you lose track of a box big enough to fit that thing?"

"Well first, he followed me to school," the boy began, "Freaked out the principal and the staff. Then I ran into this other kid who tried to show me his doll. I think it was a doll anyway. Might've been a digimon. Oh, and then I had to ditch school to find my partner. Today has been weird."

"You're one to talk," Rika complained, managing to pry off the last bit of webbing and helping her partner down, "Can't you even control your partner?"

"In my defense: he was only born this morning," the boy offered sheepishly, stepping back so that the fox could stretch her limbs. Rika eyed her partner to be sure she could stand before asking, "Are you ready to get back into the fight, Renamon?"

"Yes," she nodded, pulling the remaining webbing off of herself. Rika gestured ahead at Dokugumon, "Good, because you're looking bad in front of the new guy. You'd better give 110%!"

"Understood," Renamon raced back into the fight and kicked Dokugumon from the side. It was two on one now, and Dokugumon looked annoyed at the targets in front of it. It didn't help that Dokugumon was already tired from the fight with Renamon earlier. Now that it was two on one, they would have this in the bag.

Just as she was about to help Renamon with another card, the weird goggle-headed kid ran out into the middle of the fight waving his arms to get his partner's attention, "Guilmon! That's enough! Stop! Guilmon!"

The red dinosaur barely registered him until he was about a foot away, at which point it's glare turned into a dopey smile and it turned away from the fight. In a more playful tone and a voice that sounded like it was coming from its nose, the digimon called out, "Oh! Hi Takatomon! Is it time for food?"

"What're you two doing!?" Renamon snapped at them, turning away just long enough for Dokugumon to get a free swing. Thankfully, Renamon noticed in time to get out of the way of Dokugumon's leg, "Seriously, this isn't the time for this!"

"You're right!" The boy answered, "We should get out of here!"

"Why?" Rika demanded.

"OVER THERE! OPEN FIRE!"

Rika groaned at the timing and her luck, seeing the oddly dressed men finally appear through the fog with their guns. Renamon had already retreated to Rika's side, and the boy ran past with his dinosaur partner, "What're you waiting for? Run! I mean us! RUN!"

Rika didn't argue this time, watching as the men surrounded Dokugumon and continued shooting. Their bullets didn't appear to be hurting it, but it was distracting it enough for a few other men to start holding up magnets at the creature. And Dokugumon actually retreated away - becoming disoriented and toppling over.

She didn't see what happened next though, as the fog became too thick the further they ran. They made it through the fog and stopped just short of the park exit where a large cardboard box lay on its side with a small hole cut out for the eyes.

The boy threw the box over the dinosaur and said, "Here you go buddy. And don't get lost this time - I can't go chasing you around the school again. Oh crap, I just ditched school."

"Shut up!" Rika snapped at this mile a minute motor mouth in frustration, "Just...let me think for a second."

"One," The boy counted and turned to leave, "Time's up. Let's get out of here."

"No you don't!" Rika stamped her foot on the ground, "Who are you? Who were those guys!? What do you mean he was born this morning? Just...WHAT?"

The boy pocketed his hands sheepishly in his hoodie and examined her curiously, unnerving Rika even more. What was wrong with this kid? Eventually he nodded as if he were approving of something and answered, "I'm...Takato Matsuda."

"Okay Takato," Rika began, more annoyed now than before, "Are you going to answer the rest of my questions?"

"In no particular order: I'm just as confused as you, I made Guilmon, and I have no idea who they are. Well, I guess I didn't make him, he just sort of appeared," Takato paused as if he were contemplating his answers, "Any way, we should probably get out of here if we don't want those guys to follow us."

"And how exactly are you going to hide that big dumb thing?" Rika asked, pointing at the box with the hole for the eyes, "It's not exactly subtle. Anyone with half a brain is going to ask what's inside it."

Takato opened his mouth a few times as he tried to respond to that, "What's your name?"

"What?"

"Your name? I gave you mine, it's only fair," Takato reasoned. Rika frowned, not sure if she was more annoyed with the fact that he'd ask or the fact that he didn't recognize her. She didn't think of herself as a celebrity but she'd hope that she was still recognizable in the circle of geeks who played card games. Although she wasn't a geek herself...she wasn't interested in any geek stuff. Digimon didn't count. She shook her head and replied, "Rika."

She paused when she realized which name she gave. Only Ryo and Renamon could call her Rika. So what was this deal? She'd lose face if she corrected herself now and said to call her Ruki instead. And there was no way she was giving her real name. Takato noticed her unease and waved his hand to get her attention, "Nice to meet you Rika. This was fun but we've gotta run. Guilmon has to get back to his hiding spot and I've gotta get back in class before anyone notices I'm gone. Oh who am I kidding - they all know I'm gone."

All the same, the two turned on the spot and wandered off without so much as a word after that. Rika was left standing there stumped, "What was with that kid?"

"I thought you two got along quite well, actually."

"Don't ever say that about him ever again. He's a weirdo!" Rika complained. Renamon crossed her arms, "My experience with humans is limited at most - but between his behavior and the way those other humans dressed - I'd say that you're the weirdo. You're the odd one out."

Those were exactly the words she need to hear to shoot Renamon a death glare, "Don't ever say that ever again."

"I'm sorry. I'll take my leave now," Renamon took a bow and leapt away. Rika was alone now with just her thoughts. And she had a lot to think about. There were other humans with digimon partner's in this world, but what for? Renamon came here to get stronger but Takato said he made Guilmon. What did that even mean?

* * *

The soldiers caged the captured spider monster and covered it in a tarp, keeping magnets nearby to contain it. Then they lifted it onto a flatbed truck set to transport it back to their headquarters all while they were observed by Yamaki Mitsuo. Yamaki was relieved to see they'd acquired their first live specimen in a long time and quickly placed a phone call to one of his superiors - the Defense Minister.

It rang a few times before someone finally picked up, "This better be good Yamaki. I was in the middle of a meeting."

Yamaki knew right away that he was talking about his extramarital affair. There were no meetings on the schedule today. But he chose to say nothing - he'd wanted to save that card for a scenario when he'd need it. He explained, "I'm calling to say we just caught a wild one in a park in Shinjuku. We're moving it to a containment facility now."

"Shinjuku? Why didn't you inform me Yamaki?"

"It was moving and manifesting before we had time to notify anyone. But don't worry sir. I took care of it."

"You filed the right paperwork, right?"

"Yes sir. And we already had approval for this from the Program Morpheus," Yamaki answered quietly. The minister snapped, "Please tell me you didn't just say that out loud in public."

Yamaki frowned, forgetting where he was for a moment but acted like nothing happened anyway, "We already secured the area, sir. We'll contact you again once it's back at the base. We're continuing to stay on top of the situation."

"What about Burnt Leaf? They haven't appeared yet, have they?"

Yamaki took a look around the park before answering, "They're not here yet. Which makes it all the more important that we move quickly."

"Good. I'll be waiting."

Yamaki closed the phone and rejoined the rest of his crew as they finished securing the cage to the truck. The men then saluted and made their way to the van they came in on. Yamaki took one last glance up and down the street. If Burnt Leaf was here, they were maintaining a very low profile. It was important they get out of here as soon as possible.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so concludes another chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name. Who are these strange men and what are they going to do with the digimon? What is Impmon's game? And what is Burnt Leaf's involvement? Find out all these and more in the next chapter of The Tamer due out in two weeks on Friday February 1st at 8 PM CDT! If you guys loved it, let me know in the reviews section. I love hearing your thoughts and answering them as soon as I'm able. And hey, don't forget to follow/favorite the story to keep up with all the latest updates. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far and hope you all are looking forward to how it ends. That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter:
> 
> "DAD!" Henry protested immediately, only to see Xiaochun fitting Terriermon into a dress while singing to herself, "Princess Prissypants! Princess Prissypants! She loves her prissy pants! She loves her dress dance!"
> 
> His dad crossed his arms disapprovingly, "Henry, I'm not an idiot! You give that doll back to whichever girl you took that from tomorrow."
> 
> "Dad, I didn't steal...wait, why do you think it's a girl?" Henry paused. Unfortunately for him, each moment was just going to keep on getting worse for him, "Henry, I was your age once. Stealing a girl's things isn't the way to get her attention."
> 
> "WHAT!?"
> 
> His brother teased, "Jianliang's got a girlfriend. Jianliang's got a girlfriend! Woo!"


	4. Calumon

Henry returned home to his family's apartment and was immediately greeted by his little sister Xiaochun, "Henry! Henry! I can't find Miss Princess Prissy Pants! Do you know where she is?"

He could already feel Terriermon tossing and turning in his bag uneasily and couldn't blame the poor digimon. But he needed to pacify his little sister before she started throwing a fuss. As much as he hated it, he had to take Terriermon out of his bag, "I took Princess Prissy Pants to school with me so she could see the school."

The look of betrayal on Terriermon's eyes were apparent and he mouthed his best apology before handing him over to his little sister. He didn't want to, but what was he supposed to do when his little sister was practically begging to throw a fit in front of his family. He was just glad no one was there to see it.

"Aren't you a little old to be playing with dolls, Jianliang?"

He thought too soon. He looked over to see his older brother Rinchei just leaving the kitchen with a bag of chips. He sat himself down on the couch, where little Xiaochun joined him, "Rinchei! Rinchei! Look! Princess Prissy Pants needs a diaper!"

"Yeah he does," Rinchei observed. Henry felt worse for his partner now but was still powerless to do anything besides watch as he was dressed in a diaper and a bow. He thought it couldn't get more awkward until Rinchei asked, "Where'd you even get that doll anyway? I don't remember mom or dad ever getting it for you."

"Dad got it for me," he lied.

"I think I'd remember buying that for you son," their father answered as he entered the room, also from the kitchen with a bag of chips. Today was the day that kept on giving for Henry - he had no idea how he was going to convince his dad that he got Terriermon for him. He racked his brain and came up with nothing - what was he supposed to say? He couldn't think of anything. His long pause actually made things worse for him as his father raised an eyebrow, "Who'd you steal it from?"

"DAD!" Henry protested immediately, only to see Xiaochun fitting Terriermon into a dress while singing to herself, "Princess Prissypants! Princess Prissypants! She loves her prissy pants! She loves her dress dance!"

His dad crossed his arms disapprovingly, "Henry, I'm not an idiot! You give that doll back to whichever girl you took that from tomorrow."

"Dad, I didn't steal...wait, why do you think it's a girl?" Henry caught that last comment and thought it was odd. And the congo line of misfortune continued for him as his dad answered, "Henry, I was your age once. Stealing a girl's things isn't the way to get her attention."

"WHAT!?"

His brother teased, "Jianliang's got a girlfriend. Jianliang's got a girlfriend! Woo!"

"Shut up Rinchei!" he snapped back. Unfortunately, this didn't stop his dad from going on, "You need to take a more delicate approach. And more than that - you need to talk to them. I know the other boys your age will make fun of you but they'll stop when they realize you were ahead of the curve. Besides, girls like boys with self confidence."

Henry's head spun as he tried to process everything his dad was telling him, "Dad! No! Stop! I don't want to have this conversation any more."

"If you don't return that doll, she'll never talk to you again," his dad warned. That was it. Henry got up and went to his room, "I'll be on my computer! Don't bother me!"

He put extra emphasis into slamming the door to make sure that his dad got the message. In hindsight, it probably also made him look extra childish. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think of a way to explain this to his parents but couldn't come up with anything. It was at that moment he realized he'd left Terriermon outside with his little sister. He hated to admit it but there was no way he'd be able to save the little digimon now without having to talk to his father again. And there was no way he was going to walk into a 'birds and bees' conversation with his dad. Or worse, his mom.

He sighed and set his bag down before flopping onto his bed. Computer games could wait for now. Besides, his mind still raced to that Takato kid from earlier. He had a digimon too. And he'd let it loose in the school. Either that or it followed him without his knowledge. Whatever the case, that could only mean more digimon were appearing in the Real World. The question was why? What was so special about the Real World? What was so special about him, Jianliang Lee? What was so special about Takato?

He tried to recall anything he could from the books and the show. Maybe that would shed some light on things. The story went that the kids had been chosen by destiny...the 'chosen children' or the 'digidestined'. They were the saviors chosen by some dead race to finish something they'd started. But he wasn't a digidestined. At least, he didn't think he was. He was just some kid whose digimon came crawling out of his computer. Which raised another question in his head: if the digimon in the stories were real, were the digidestined real? And if so, where were they?

He tried to contemplate ever possibility in his head but each idea was crazier than the last. The story ended with four of them becoming like celebrities - the one who went to space and was a rockstar, the fashion designer married him, the actress and model, and one who wrote their story. Did that mean the author of the story actually lived through everything he wrote about? As he recalled, the author simply disappeared after his second novel so there was no one to ask. According to the novel, the rest of them went back to their normal lives. A lawyer, a detective, a scientist, a programmer, a doctor, a school teacher, and a ramen maker. Maybe one of the teachers at his school was the teacher in the books? Yeah right. It wasn't like an answer was going to fall onto his lap.

CRASH!

Henry looked over to see a little white digimon with large pointy ears come crashing through his window and onto his lap. The little digimon flailed and yelped, "Ah! Get off me! Dumb birds! What did I ever do to you? I mean, yeah, I ate those nuts. But they looked so good and I was so hungry! Anyway, I'm sorry. I promise I'll get more! Just stop eating me!"

"Whoa! Calm down," Henry said, as he went to close his bedroom window, "It's raining digimon all of sudden. Who are you?"

"Huh?" The little digimon looked up long enough to realize where he was and seemed to calm down. With big wide eyes, he asked, "Who are you? What is this place?"

Henry pointed out, "It's my bedroom. What're you doing here? What do birds have to do with anything?"

The little digimon hopped onto his small legs and bounced happily, "Yay! I got away from those mean birds! Hooray! And you helped me!"

"Who even are you?" Henry asked again, beginning to lose patience with this little digimon who was just slightly more annoying than the other kid from earlier today. The digimon stopped bouncing and said, "I'm Calumon, mister. What's your name?"

"I'm Henry. What are you doing here, Calumon?" Henry asked, still trying to pry more answers from the small digimon. The digimon turned his head and Henry only now noticed the big eyes that the digimon had. With eyes that big and a personality that cheerful, he was convinced that Calumon must've been an In-Training at best. But all of that was nothing compared to the odd symbol on the digimon's head - an upside down red triangle flanked on all sides by three upright black triangles.

He tried to recall where he's seen the symbol before but couldn't think of any book, game, show or card that had that symbol. The digimon answered, "I don't know. I was just trying to run from this really mean guy until he ran into another mean guy. Then there was this big flash and I ended up here. Then I met these two who were trying to eat each other with their mouths at the same time, and a funny looking one with black glasses. Then these dumb birds showed up. And then I ended up here. But now I'm safe! Thanks mister!"

"I meant, why are all you digimon showing up in our world? How are you getting here out of the Digital World?"

"You mean we're not in the Digital World?" Calumon asked innocently enough. Henry nodded and the digimon shrugged, "Oh well. I think those birds are gone now. Hey! Let's play a game! It's called tag! You're it!"

Calumon tapped Henry's nose with his little hand and then ran for the window. Despite his small size, the little digimon was strong enough to pry the window open before leaping outside, "Catch me if you can!"

"Hey, wait!" Henry tried to protest but it was already too late. The little digimon was gone, and there was nothing he could do to get the digimon back. Henry sighed, cursing his luck. Then the door knocked, "Henry, what's all that noise?"

His dad. Thankfully, this would be easier to explain than Terriermon had been a small moment ago, "It's nothing dad. It's just my game."

He ran to his computer just in time to pretend to be turning it off in a fit of anger when his dad came into the room. His father eyed him suspiciously, as if looking for any kind of discrepancy before noting the window, "Why'd you open the window?"

"You know the computer gets hot in here when I'm playing my games dad," Henry answered quickly, hoping that he was at least buying the answers. After a few moments, his dad noted, "I think I'm going to stop buying you games with so much violence in them. They're making you too angry and I don't like that. I'm not raising a delinquent for a son."

* * *

Juri came to class later than she usually did, but still in time to avoid the bell. But that wasn't the weirdest thing she saw that day. It was Takato on time for once, talking to his friends Kazu and Kenta. Kazu chided, "Hey Takato! I meant to ask: what's with the goggles? What, you think you're a digidestined all of a sudden?"

"Digi-what? Oh, right. That," Takato replied sheepishly; further encouraging Kazu's admonishments, "Come on man. Don't give me that. You're going to start wearing goggles and pretend you don't know what a digidestined is? It's not like you have a digimon!"

"I do too!" Takato blurted out, his face turning bright red. Kazu laughed, "Yeah right, dork."

"No, you're right. I don't have one," Takato admitted quietly, turning his head away from them. Juri went straight for her desk and set her things down, but couldn't help but listen in on the boys as they continued arguing, "Wait, why'd you change your story all of a sudden?"

"No reason. I lied. You caught me."

"Takato, you don't actually have a digimon," Kenta said although it sounded like he was trying to ask a question. Takato nodded, "That's what I said."

Both Kenta and Kazu groaned, "No, it's the way you said it. You said it weird."

"No I didn't."

"Dude, you suck at lying. Do you have a digimon or don't you?"

"I have digimon cards."

Both boys were frazzled now and they surrounded Takato at his desk. Kazu crossed his arms and leaned in so close that Takato had to lean back, "Look me in the eye and say you don't have a digimon."

Takato's silence and the fact that he didn't look either of them in the eye was all the answer either of them needed. Kenta loudly concluded, "You have a digimon!"

Takato groaned and went to bury his face in his desk while he was swarmed by both Kazu and Kenta furiously prodding him with questions. That confirmation was all Juri needed though. Takato had a digimon. Or something like a digimon. And she wondered if it had anything to do with the monster she saw yesterday. After all, Takato was the one who asked about the box once they were out of the way.

"Where did it come from?"

"How did you get a digimon?"

"Who is it? Agumon?"

"Nah, he's too dory to get Agumon. He's definitely got a Veemon!"

"Can we not talk about this?" Takato bemoaned, propping his head up from his desk for the briefest moment to shut them up before returning to rest his head. This didn't stop either boy from trying to get more information out of Takato about who his digimon was. Naturally, Juri wanted to know as well but her attention was pulled away when Nanami came up to her desk, "Juri! How are you doing?"

"Huh, oh, fine. How are you?" Juri answered quickly, trying to look like she hadn't been eavesdropping. Nanami placed a hand on her head, "Are you sure? You look spooked. You've looked spooked ever since that monster in the nurse's office. Even the nurse was spooked, remember? Oh, I heard she's going to get the can by the way. The school's going to make her retire so that they don't have to deal with a nurse who sees monsters."

"I know what I saw," Juri frowned, and Nanami agreed, "I believe you Juri. But the school didn't believe the nurse. They're not going to believe you or anything you say. I'm just looking out for you, Juri. I wouldn't bring up whatever you saw with the teachers ever again."

"I guess," Juri frowned. At that exact moment, Miss Asaji came in and class began. However, Juri spent the whole lesson thinking about whatever the boys had been talking about. And it took until they had their lunch break for Juri to finally approach the boys and ask just what exactly they'd been talking about.

The boys had pushed their desks together in the far corner of the room to avoid any one else listening in, but that didn't stop them from talking in excited voices. What they didn't count on was Juri coming over to ask them, "Hey...Takato. Um, that thing you guys were talking about...is that what you were talking about yesterday?"

"Huh?"

"Yesterday?" Kenta turned to Takato, peering over the top of his glasses in disbelief, "What happened yesterday, Takato?"

Before Takato could answer, Juri said, "He was asking if I'd seen a box after that thing in the nurse's office. I thought it was weird at the time but you were the one who brought it up."

"Dude, you told a girl before you told us?" Kazu grunted disapprovingly. Takato rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I don't-"

He was cut off by Kenta pushing a finger up to his face, "Okay, now we have to see it. If Juri already saw it, then it's only fair that we see it too."

"Guys, please don't," Takato mumbled, but it was too late by that point. Juri put on her bravest face, "Is it alright if I see it too?"

"You already got to see it!" Kazu complained. Eventually Takato piped up, "Guys! Keep it down!"

It was at that exact moment when Miss Asaji came back in to signal the end of their lunch break and the return of class. As the students returned their desks to their assigned locations, Takato whispered to them, "Fine, I'll show you guys after school. But…it's a secret so you have to promise not to tell anyone. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Deal!"

"My lips are sealed!" Juri agreed. Her anticipation rose astronomically after that. Part of her wanted to see this monster she'd seen before - to face the thing that terrified her so much. But another part of her wanted to just run away in fear. She couldn't do that though. She had to be brave - she couldn't live her life in fear. She had to see it.

As soon as classes were done for the day, Minami tried to meet up with her but Juri had to turn her down. She didn't say why, but then ran off to join Takato, Kazu, and Kenta. Kazu and Kenta both looked ready to leap into the air with excitement but that only Takato more nervous and uneasy. Kazu asked at just above a whisper, "Where have you been keeping a digimon anyway? Your parents have to notice that something's up with all the extra food you have to be eating!"

"I've mostly been giving him the stuff they throw out. And he's hiding in the park," Takato explained to them sheepishly, "Well, park…a tool shed in the park that no one goes to any more. Same thing, right?"

"Not really," Kenta pointed out, but Takato shrugged. Takato finished putting things in his backpack and reminded them, "Remember! This is a secret, okay? No one knows! Now let's go."

He guided them out of the school and down the block, uncharacteristically quiet for once in the entire time Juri had known him. That didn't stop either Kenta or Kazu from prodding him with questions in the hopes of finding out more about his digimon.

"So what's this digimon like?" Kenta asked first.

"Have you gotten to go to the Digital World?" Kazu added.

"Is that why you ran out of school yesterday?"

"What? No, of course not dingus. He got loose! Why else would it have been in the nurse's office."

"If it was loose, it was probably a Gatomon."

"Nah, there's no way it would've been Gatomon. Juri would've said if it was a cat, right?"

"I don't remember it being a cat," Juri recalled just as they turned into the park, "But I didn't really get a good look. It was small enough to run under a bed. Had legs. Oh! And big ears!"

"Sounds like a Koromon," Kazu smiled, until Kenta argued, "Now who's the dingus? Koromon don't have legs!"

"Oh what do you know? It's definitely a Koromon or a Patamon! Who else has big ears?" Kazu folded his arms behind his head with a big old confident smile. Then Kenta started listing digimon, "Terriermon, Lopmon, Gummymon, Kokomon, Tokomon, Salamon-"

"Okay, we get it," Kazu snapped angrily at Kenta, "Hey Takato, how much further?"

"We're already here," Takato answered as they stopped at the foot of a long set of steps. At the top was an old shed that looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. Takato jogged up the steps and invited the rest of them to come along, just as Kenta complained, "Really? We have to climb stairs?"

"It's only a hundred steps," Takato answered, "Think of it as a work out. Now come on. He's probably hungry. Oh! And he's very friendly but don't get him too excited. He really gets into his games and I haven't been able to teach him about boundaries yet."

He hurried upstairs, with Kazu and Kenta reluctantly following along just behind him. Juri stayed behind a second longer - realizing the thing that had startled her might be up these very steps. Her desire to run away in fear was stronger than ever. But she had to be brave. She had to face this. Everything was going to be fine. Yes. It was all going to be fine.

She took a long deep breath and started walking, one foot in front of the other up the stairs after them. She'd only gotten half way up the stairs when both Kazu and Kenta came running back down the stairs screaming at the top of their lungs. The sight had her freeze and she fought every instinct to turn and run with them.

"GUYS! COME BACK! YOU WANTED TO SEE HIM, RIGHT?" Takato called back from the top of the stairs. but it was too late now, those boys were already gone from sight. Juri looked back up at Takato standing there with a frown, "They wanted to see it and they turn tail and run as soon as they do. What was the point of even asking to see him?"

"What happened?" Juri asked nervously. Takato answered through a frown, "I said hi to Guilmon. He was snoring so loud they thought he was growling and they ran off. Come on. Still want to meet him?"

He offered out his hand to her even though she didn't really need his help. But she understood why he'd offered it. The look of terror on her face must've been clear as day and he was trying to reassure her that everything would be okay. But then another issue came to mind. She didn't want to hold a boy's hand. That would've been weird and boys were gross.

That didn't stop her from taking it though. Her fear of whatever was up there was just a little stronger than her disgust of boys. And when they got to the top, she quickly let go of his hand - but still lingered close just in case. They found the shed's door had been replaced by an iron barred gate whose lock had been broken off. Takato or his digimon must've done it to get the door open. Inside was dark but she could make out the the vague outline of a large reptile and its glowing eyes in the dark.

She stepped behind Takato and let him go first as he made his way up to it, "Hey buddy. How was your nap?"

It answered with what sounded like a great big roar that turned into a yawn before a nasily voice answered, "I dreamed I got to eat a whole bread. Are we going to play now Takatomon?"

"Not quite. I brought you a snack by the way! Left over peanut butter and jelly filled bread rolls," Takato answered as he opened up his bag, "After you ate all of the food yesterday, I thought I should take some with me to school so that you didn't eat it all in one go."

"Oh boy! It smells so good. Hmm? Whose that?" Guilmon asked, finally noticing Juri. Takato answered, "A friend from school. Her name's Juri. Say hi!"

"Hi!" Guilmon said back. Takato turned to Juri and smiled, motioning for her to go on in, "Don't be afraid. He's friendly. But he may tackle you while he tries to hug you."

She took one step inside and saw a wide eyed red dinosaur staring back with something resembling a smile. It waved its large claw at her and smiled, "Hello Juri. It's nice to meet you."

This was not whatever she saw when she was in the nurse's office. In fact, this didn't creep her out at all. Guilmon was adorable, with his tail wagging back and forth like an excited dog. As Takato emptied his bag of sandwiches, he'd toss one in the air and Guilmon would happily catch it in the air with his mouth. There was something dopey about how he looked too - he didn't seem capable of being dangerous even slightly.

It took Juri a moment to finally work up the nerve to greet it, "Hello Guilmon. It's nice to meet you too!"

Guilmon looked up at the sound of his name while still eating food. Meanwhile, Takato stifled a chuckle, "Oh wow, she talks."

"Would you like to see my hole?" Guilmon asked innocently enough. Juri jumped back at the question, "What?"

"Guilmon!" Takato snapped but it was too late to stop the creature from retreating into the back of the shed to reveal a large hole he'd dug in the ground. Juri peered down the hole and watched it disappear into the darkness. Takato sighed, "Guilmon! I told you to stop digging these holes already!"

"But there's something down there!" Guilmon pleaded, before leaping down and disappearing. Takato groaned, "Guilmon! Stop! Come back! I hate it when he does that."

"He's adorable! Like a little puppy!" Juri squealed excitedly, "Are all digimon like this?"

"Just Guilmon," Takato answered with a half smile, "So was Guilmon what you saw?"

Juri shook her head, "No, it was smaller. Why is that?"

"I've just noticed that there have been more and more digimon showing up lately," Takato stated quietly, "There was Guilmon the other day, then a Renamon and Dokugumon yesterday, and whatever it is you saw."

"More digimon? Shouldn't we tell someone?" Juri asked worriedly. Takato turned on her with the look of a parent scolding a child and snapped, "No! If we tell someone, they could take...Guilmon away."

Juri understood the secrecy now. He was like a boy who had just gotten a pet and didn't want to lose it so quickly. Then Takato apologized when he realized what he'd done, "I'm sorry. I just...please keep this a secret."

"There has to be someone we can tell, right? Someone we can trust? What about those digidestiny people that Kazu was talking about?" Juri asked quickly, hoping there was someone they could turn to. Takato shook his head and added, "Nobody's seen them in a long time. Either the world was so safe that they didn't need to be seen, or they've gotten so busy with their own lives that they don't think they need to get involved. In either case, it's our problem and not theirs. We'll figure it out."

"That...sounds like the most serious thing you've ever said," Juri thought aloud, making Takato turn his head, "What do you mean?"

Juri realized she might've offended him and embarrassedly tried to play it off, "Oh well. You know you're usually so happy to lucky. And you usually don't care if you get into trouble so it's weird to see you being so...serious for once. I mean..."

When she realized she couldn't salvage the situation, she held up her sock puppet and looked away while mouthing, "Woof! You're usually so silly! Woof! Look at you being all cool and serious. Woof! Also, what do you mean we?"

When she could finally bare to look at Takato again, he wore the most confused expression on his face. He was judging her for using the puppet. He had to be. She didn't want to think about what must've been going through his mind. After a moment, Takato pocketed his hands and looked away, "You have to promise not to tell anyone. I need to know I can trust you before I say any more Juri."

Juri was stunned by that. What did he know that made him want to keep secrets? I mean, they didn't really hang out and they weren't friends. But he was acting like he had a lot of secrets. She nodded and he began, "One of the boy's in our school has a digimon too, I think. To be honest, I'm still not sure if he's playing pretend with a doll or if his partner was so knocked out that he was lying still. And then there's this other girl named Rika and her partner Renamon who-"

"Hey Takatomon! Jurimon! Look!" Guilmon called down from the bottom of the hole. They looked down at the same time to see Guilmon staring back up with a great big smile on his face. It would've been adorable if the lower half of his body wasn't ghost like - transparent and fuzzy like the distorted image on a television."

"GUILMON!" Takato jumped down into the hole to check on his partner, "Are you okay? What is this? I've never seen any...thing...like..."

He began to sway back and forth like he'd been hit in the head. He held up his hands and saw they'd become transparent - just like Guilmon. A panicked look came across his face, "What...what...is this?"

"Takato! Are you okay?" she called down at him. He looked to be in pain but Guilmon appeared to be enjoying it and he giggled, "It kinda tickles and makes me feel dizzy."

"We should...climb out," Takato suggested, stepping out of the hole and trying to pull Guilmon out. She reached down to help pull the digimon out but it didn't seem to help that much at all. It actually seemed to make things worse because now Guilmon was completely transparent from the neck down and it had spread up Takato's arms, disappearing into his hoodie shirt.

"Oh, that's not good. Maybe we should get back in the hole," Takato said quickly, leaping back down and re-examining his arms for any change, "Nope, that didn't help at all. Okay...now what? Um...oh...huh."

As quickly and mysteriously as it started, whatever was happening to them stopped. Takato reexamined himself before checking on Guilmon. It was the strangest thing - both of them were perfectly fine now. It was like nothing happened. But it was hard to miss the confused and worried look on Takato's face. she was about to suggest they go see a doctor but Takato shot down any ideas she had before she could say anything, "Don't tell anyone about this, Juri. This has to be a secret. Please...promise me."

"But, Takato!" she started, only to be interrupted, "Juri...please, trust me."

She paused, staring at him in disbelief. There were so many secrets he'd been keeping from everyone and now he wanted to keep another one? How many more was he keeping? She panicked, "Takato, how can I trust you when you're keeping all these secrets?"

"If I told you all my secrets, I wouldn't need you to trust me, Juri," he said to her seriously. There was something about his answer that was both reassuring and not at the exact same time. She didn't know what to believe. Scared out of her mind, she changed the subject, "How...what could've done this?"

Takato shrugged but she was certain he was downplaying his own worries, "I have no idea. I'm just as lost as you. But I think now would be a good time to check on-"

"HI!"

Juri and Takato both jumped at the same time as a new guest joined them, while Guilmon shifted into an angry stance. They all found themselves looking at the same small white creature with big eyes and bigger ears looking at them with its tiny paw set to its head. Once she saw it, there was no mistaking it. This was what she saw hiding in the medicine cabinet at school. She pointed at it, "You're the monster from the school!"

"And you're the screaming girl! You're a lot quieter today! You shouldn't scream as much. It suits you better," it answered with a great big smile. Takato pointed at it in disbelief, "That's what you saw?"

She nodded, "Yeah, that's the one. No doubt about it! It ran at me in the school!"

"You hit me with a broom!" the little digimon replied.

"It doesn't look that aggressive," Takato observed, oblivious to the fact that it bounced up to Guilmon and patted his snout, "That was a neat trick you pulled, turning into a ghost like that! You must be a lot of fun at parties."

"What's a party?" Guilmon turned his head. Calumon bounced excitedly, "You don't know? Oh no! We have to throw you one right away! I'll go find balloons!"

"Wait! Stop!" Takato jumped in front of the creature, blocking his exit, "Who are you?"

"I'm Calumon!" the little digimon answered excitedly, bouncing past him without another word, "I don't have time to talk though! He needs a party!"

"Calumon? I've never heard of a Calumon before. What's a Calumon?" Takato asked, scratching his head and lost in thought while the little digimon scurried past him. Juri had to bring it to his attention, "It got away Takato."

"Huh?" he looked around the shed and finally noticed Calumon was gone. He groaned and took a quick scan out the door, "Calumon! Calumon? Why do these things keep popping in and out of my life? Guilmon, get your box!"

"Are we going out to play?" Guilmon asked. Juri asked, "Are we going to find Calumon?"

"No. There's even way too many weird things lately and I need answers," Takato frowned, continuing to scratch the back of his head, "But there's been way too many weird things going on lately and I'm a bit out...of my league here. I think we should go find our classmate and that Rika girl from yesterday."

"Rika?" Juri repeated, recalling that Takato said she had a partner too. Juri wondered if it was okay for her to have anything involved in something like this. Despite that, she followed along as the two left the shed and headed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Guilmon and Takato? Do Rika and Henry have any more idea than Takato does? And what did that organization do with Dokugumon? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next Friday February 8th at 8 PM CDT. If you guys loved it, let me know in the comments section. I love hearing your thoughts and answering them as soon as I'm able. And hey, don't forget to bookmark/kudo the story to keep up with all the latest updates. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far and hope you all are looking forward to how it ends. That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter:
> 
> "You didn't do anything," Yamaki assured him, "It was the machine."
> 
> "I fired it," he countered.
> 
> "You needed two people."
> 
> "I helped pull the trigger. I...this isn't what I had to do."
> 
> "You created a weapon, a deterrent that could help save countless lives and protect the world. Your country and the world thank you," Yamaki patted the man on the shoulder as he turned away, keeping his face buried in his hands.


	5. The Tamers Together

Yamaki sat in the laboratory anxiously, watching the various agents and scientists of Project Hypnos work to move the captured spider monster into the containment chamber. It shouldn’t have taken this long but they had a lot of difficulty getting the creature into the Tokyo Metropolitan Building without attracting a lot of attention. And then, it was a matter of getting it onto an elevator to the upper floors and keeping it from mauling any employees.

Once the monster was secured inside of the containment chamber, the doors were sealed and the scientists went to work activating their new weapon. In the containment chamber, Yamaki could see the monster howling and screaming - clawing at the glass to get out of its prison in vain. Between the layers of reinforced glass and hardened steel, there was no way it was going to get out. Until the first layer of glass began to crack, and two of the guards drew their weapons in response. This was taking too long and Yamaki was growing impatient, “Izumi! How much longer?”

“I’m not an employee and I’m not working for you willingly. If you want me to turn this on, you’re going to let me finish the proper start up procedure,” the red haired scientist spat back angrily. Yamaki groaned, making a mental note to speak with Izumi later about his attitude. He wasn’t wrong - he was an involuntary employee of the organization whose cooperation was co-opted when his family ran into sudden financial trouble. Made all the worse by the fact that he hadn’t been allowed to see them in years.

He was a brilliant addition to the team though - his natural genius and understanding of this subject granted them insights that would’ve taken years to acquire without him. And their past experiences spoke to that. In the past, some of the captured creatures took umbrage with a nickname from one of the scientists and mauled him.

After several more minutes of waiting and watching him type on his keyboard, Izumi stated, “Juggernaut is online. Preparing test fire.”

Another scientist appeared beside him and they both inserted keys into a command console. The weapon they were about to test was such a large electrical drain on the power grid that they needed two simultaneous key turns to prevent a total system collapse just because of an accidental button press. Izumi said aloud, “Key turn in three, two, one!”

They both turned their keys at the same time, and the whole room began to hum. Through the observation glass, they watched the containment chamber begin to glow and the spider begin to fizzle out. It screamed in horrible agony, and Yamaki noticed the less hardened members of security and scientists become unnerved. A few even turned away in disgust as the creature was ripped and finally turned to nothing. Izumi shut off the machine and covered his face in disbelief, “I can’t believe I just did that.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Yamaki assured him, “It was the machine.”

“I fired it,” Izumi countered.

“You needed two people.”

“I helped pull the trigger. I...this isn’t what I’m supposed to do.”

“You created a weapon, a deterrent that could help save countless lives and protect the world. Your country and the world thank you,” Yamaki patted the man on the shoulder as he turned away, keeping his face buried in his hands. He shook in disbelief, “I...I can never look them in the eye again. I could never see them again. This...this isn’t...god, what have I done?”

“Absolutely nothing wrong,” Yamaki said, “Get some sleep. I have to make a call.”

He made his way to his office on the far side of the laboratory and called the defense minister with the update. It didn’t take long for him to pick up this time, “Yamaki. You’re late.”

“We ran into complications getting it into the building. The test was successful, and the creature was successfully destroyed.”

“I figured. Half of the neighborhood’s blacked out,” the minister replied quietly on the other side, “That’s good though. I’ll have a report on the Prime Minister’s desk soon. Get a report ready and on my desk tomorrow. I’ll bring it to the Prime Minister first thing. And Yamaki, I see good things for you in the future.”

“Thank you sir,” Yamaki heard the other end before he clicked. He sighed and took his shades off. He was tired; more tired than he cared to admit. He had no idea how long it had been since his last night’s sleep and wasn’t sure when he’d be doing so next. He sat down in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to get just the shortest rest before returning to his work.

* * *

Rika sat in her room quietly reorganizing her deck. She’d set up this deck to be useful to her whenever she was in the middle of a card game but that required her deck to be shuffled and reshuffled constantly between games. That was great for ensuring a fair game where a difference in skill could be mitigated by random chance. It wasn’t great in the middle of a life-or-death battle where she needed to get certain cards quickly.

Why else would she have nearly lost the last battle? Her deck was too disorganized. If she hadn’t wasted time trying to find the cards she needed, Renamon would have had the fight in the bag. And the fog. She’d acquired some glasses to help keep the sting out of her eyes, but she wasn’t how sure they were going to work. Not until she had a chance for a field test.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when her grandmother came to her room, “Ruki! I mean Rika. You have friends here to see you.”

“Friends?” Rika looked up with a scowl, “If it’s any of those girls from school, I don’t want to see them. Tell them I don’t have beauty tips and mom picks out my clothes, so leave me alone!”

“Actually, it’s a boy and a girl...and a box. I think they’re here to play you at your cute little card game,” her grandmother smiled cheerily. Rika raised an eyebrow, not sure what bothered her more. That some kids came all this way to play a card game, or that her grandmother called it cute, “It’s not cute grandma. Wait, did you say box?”

She dreaded who she was going to find, especially when her grandmother added, “That’s right. It’s the strangest thing, but kids these days are so different from my day. They’re out in the living room. You kids have fun!”

“Grandma! Wait!” Rika scrambled up to her feet but was unable to catch her grandmother before she had already left. Rika sighed, surprised that her grandmother could move so quickly despite her age. She wasn’t exactly on her death bed, but the woman was old enough that she shouldn’t have disappeared like that. Maybe she was part ninja and Rika has some latent family abilities she didn’t know she had yet. In either case, she grabbed both her sets of cards and made her way out to the living room where her grandmother was busy pouring tea for their guests.

And right away, it was exactly who she feared - Takato, that dumb digimon she didn’t recognize, and some girl with a pony tail on the side of her head and a sock puppet in her hand. And the worst part was he still wore those stupid goggles on his head. They were all seated around the table while her grandmother retreated to the kitchen. Rika sighed, “What are you doing here goggle head?”

“Hi Rika! I thought we should stop by and visit!” Takato smiled cheerily, “You remember Guilmo...I mean...um, Giyamonu. Okay, that doesn’t work. Forget it, just call him Guilmon. And this is Juri.”

“Hi,” the other girl waved sheepishly. One look at her dress was all Rika needed to see. She was one of those girly girl types. The kind who was probably into dolls and dresses and ponies. Just the thought of it made her sick. She took a seat at the table opposite them and sighed, “Really? You thought you should stop by and visit? And how did you find my house anyway?”

“I’m just good like that!” Takato beamed until Juri added, “We knocked on every door until we got your grandmother. It took most of the afternoon.”

Takato sighed, “Alright fine, it took us a couple of guesses. About ten, maybe a little over, perhaps around forty. Look, it doesn’t matter. The point is we’re here.”

“Yes, you are. Now how do I make you go away?” Rika growled at them. Guilmon didn’t seem to notice her scathing dismissal and asked from under his box, “If you’re not going to have your tea, can I?”

Rika looked over at the glass of oolong in front of her and pushed it his way. She heard the dinosaur squeal with delight as it lifted up the box to grab the drink before disappearing back under. She sighed, “Did you seriously just let your digimon show itself?”

Takato shrugged, “It’s okay. Juri’s a friend and you’ve already met Guilmon. Speaking of, where’s your digimon partner, Renamon?”

Rika looked around the room and could hear her grandmother in the kitchen washing dishes. She’d be in there for a while, but she’d still have to be quick. She snapped her fingers and Renamon appeared behind her, “You called?”

“Gogglehead wanted to see you,” she replied grumpily, “There! You’ve seen her. Now go away.”

“Renamon! How are you doing?” Takato jumped up excitedly, circling her like a vulture.

“Okay, I guess,” Renamon frowned, turning her head to follow him, “What are you doing?”

“You haven't felt or experienced anything weird today, have you?” Takato asked aloud, suddenly examine her arms carefully - turning it over and inspecting the skin under her fur. Renamon swatted him away, “You mean besides whatever it is you’re doing right now? No. I haven’t.”

“So you didn’t notice a tingling sensation or parts of your body becoming transparent?” Takato asked, returning to his side of the table. Renamon frown began to turn into a scowl, “I don’t understand what you’re getting at and it’s making me uncomfortable.”

“So you didn’t...turn into a ghost for a minute?” Takato asked more slowly, pressing the point so that even Rika was annoyed at him, “She said no, gogglehead. What’s this about anyway?”

“Nothing to worry about. I just had some questions,” Takato replied, finishing his tea and sitting up, “We should go.”

“No,” Rika slammer her hand on the table, “Before, I just wanted you out but now I gotta know what you know. You came all the way out here to ask Renamon...what, did she become a ghost? What does that even mean? What are you up to?”

Takato stared at her quietly for the longest time. Long enough that she was certain he was sizing her up. He mumbled something about a promise under his breath before answering, “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. I’m surprised you aren’t, honestly. Digimon have suddenly started popping up all over Tokyo. There are strange men in funny suits running around. And to top it all off, no one is saying anything about it. I’m not sure if it’s because it just hasn’t spread out enough yet for people to notice or if someone is keeping it quiet but something is going on. It makes me wonder if the digidestined know anything about it.”

“They’re just stories,” Rika pointed out but Takato answered by gesturing at Renamon and Guilmon, “Do they look like stories?”

Rika clarified, “I meant the digidestined. I don’t know about you but if they were real, they’d be all over the news wouldn’t they? They’d be celebrities. But they aren’t. You know why? Because they don’t exist!”

She didn’t like the disapproving look on Takato’s face and wanted to smack it straight off of him. But even if she was right, that didn’t change the fact that the gogglehead was on to something. Why were the digimon coming to their world? Renamon said she wanted to get stronger, but were all the digimon looking for partners? And if so, why did they feel the need to fight each other. Takato sat up, “I think it’s time we go. We still have to find that other guy, Henry.”

“Other guy? What other guy?” Rika demanded angrily, only to be ignored as they all stood up. Only Juri was polite enough to say, “Thanks for having us over.”

“Right,” Rika said, following them to the door and slamming it shut once they were gone. Her grandmother finally came out of the kitchen to ask, “What was that noise? Is everything okay, Rika?”

“Just kicked them out,” Rika replied quietly, making her way back to her room. Renamon had cleared out too which was good. Besides, she still had to finish reorganizing her deck. She made her way back to her room, content to finish what she was doing only to find her digivice going off inside. The radar was pointing off into the distance. She knew what she had to do and put on her card belt. Renamon appeared beside her as she prepared to leave, “There’s a digimon. Are we going?”

“You know it.”

* * *

Yamaki was stirred awake by a red haired woman in a white jumpsuit. Riley Ohtori. The prettiest face in the Hypnos Program. And he didn’t just think that because they were in a relationship. She had turned more than a few heads in her time at Hypnos. Because of that, they had to keep their relationship a secret. That would’ve been an HR disaster. 

“Sir, there’s another wild one on the loose,” she said. Yamaki massaged the bridge of his nose and stood up, “Okay, track it until it bio emerges and deploy the Quick Reaction Force as soon as it does. I want it captured before Burnt Leaf gets there.”

“Already have, sir,” she nodded, making her way out of his office. He took a moment longer to massage his nose and wake up before straightening his clothes out. He must’ve fallen asleep again. He needed to stop doing that. Afterwards, he made his way out to the monitoring room. It was a large half dome building that mapped out the entire communications network across the globe. Riley had taken her place with Tally, the other operator of the monitoring system. They sat on two elevated chairs above the rest of the room which allowed them to quickly swivel towards any of the screens and track all bio-emergences as they happened.

And Yamaki could see the big red dot of one of those monsters coming through. And its location made him panic. The digimon was about to appear in the middle of a busy intersection. This was not going to be good. It’d be a nightmare for disaster control.

* * *

Juri followed after Takato and Guilmon as they made their way down the street. There was no point in denying that the sight of the box was turning a lot of heads. If anything, it probably would’ve been less conspicuous if Guilmon was walking around without the box. Telling people one f their friends was in a very convincing costume made a lore more sense than telling people their friend like their box too much. 

Then something in Takato’s pocket started making a loud beeping noise. It was so loud that everyone in the area turned their head to see. It didn’t help that Guilmon began growling from inside his box, unnerving the few people still walking around. Takato fished the weirdest device out of his pocket and examined, “Oh, that’s not good. There’s a digimon around here.”

“What?” Juri blinked, trying to peer over his shoulder at the device in his hand. Then he turned on his heel to face her, “Juri, you might want to go home. There’s going to be trouble.”

“Trouble?” Juri repeated, her mind racing into a panic. She had no idea what a digimon fight was like but it couldn’t be good. Especially when Takato added, “If anyone asks, you have no idea who I am. Come on Guilmon!”

“Can I come out of the box now?” Guilmon asked. Takato took one look around and sighed, “Not yet. Stay under there a little longer. Let’s go buddy!”

“Okay!” Guilmon shouted, running after Takato. Juri considered running after them - to help out. But then the fear came back, the crippling fear of her own death and demise. She didn’t want to die. Then she realized something - Takato and Guilmon were running towards it. She had to stop them! They’d get killed!

But they were already gone, somewhere in the crowd where she couldn’t see them.

* * *

Henry had gone for an uncharacteristic walk with Terriermon after school, carrying the digimon in his arms like a doll. He needed time to clear his head and think things through. It didn’t help that he was too busy trying to find Calumon. The digimon had to be around here somewhere. But where was he? He looked down at the device in his hand and wished it would tell him where to look. But nothing. Then it began beeping. The digivice came to life and its screen showed a radar.

Terriermon’s ears perked up at the same time and little digimon sniffed the air, “Henry? I smell a digimon. It’s big.”

“That explains the digivice. We’d better go check it out,” Henry said aloud. He followed the radar on his screen back out onto the street and into a busy intersection. Cars had stopped from every direction as a thick fog began to form in the middle of the intersection. What little light was coming from their cars could barely even penetrate it, but no one was willing to drive blindly into it in the dark.

Terriermon’s ears twitched in response to the fog and he pointed it out, “It’s there Henry! It’s appearing there!”

“What? It can’t show up here! This is the middle of a city block!” Henry cried out in disbelief, panicking at the uncertainty of what digimon would be coming out in the middle of all this. As he said that, he noticed the car doors swing open as disgruntled drivers climbed out to yell at the traffic jam. A few choice insults were thrown between drivers trying to throw blame, then silence as they all heard a loud boom. Terriermon gasped, “It’s here!”

All the lights flickered and went out at the same time, shrouding the street in darkness. He wished Terriermon hadn’t said that out loud.

“Did that doll just talk?” a bystander asked. Henry couldn’t answer it though. His attention was squarely on the monster that appeared in front of them. A Devidramon. There was no mistaking its dragon body with black leathery wings and blood red eyes. That monster was Devidramon. That look in his eye was one of murderous intent, the kind he’d seen when all those digimon ganged up on Terriermon in his game. And it just landed in the middle of a busy street.

A few people had already started trying to clear out - running as fast and as far away as they could while the monster was still standing there. It didn’t take long before panic broke out. Cars started backing away into other cars that’d been abandoned and accidents mounted. Henry found his legs frozen. He had a digimon partner and a digivice. He...had to help right? But then the thought of Terriermon getting hurt chilled him to the bone. Terriermon didn’t stand a chance against that thing. He couldn’t bare to see the little digimon get hurt again. Worse, he couldn’t live with himself if he watched him die! He couldn’t do it. But if he chose not to, others would die instead.

“Henry! We have to go!” Terriermon pleaded. Did he mean away or towards the danger? He couldn’t make heads or tails of his partner’s exasperated cries. All he knew was that he didn’t want to be here.

Then someone rushed past, followed by a box with a large red tail sticking out of the bottom. Henry looked over to see Takato again with his box again. Takato sized up the digimon and said, “Well hello. Aren’t you big? Okay, Devidramon. Need a plan. Need a plan. It’s too big to take on directly so we’re going to have to go on surprise. Like a direct attack while he’s still disoriented. Which he’d never expect because he’d kill us instantly, so it would be a short surprise. What do you think buddy?”

“I think I’m hungry, Takatomon,” the box answered. Takato looked over at the box with the saddest expression on his face. It wasn’t disappointment at his partner - more like he was missing something and didn’t know how to act without it. Then he noticed Henry. The two made eye contact briefly, “Henry?”

The loud defiant roar of the angry digimon pulled their attention back to it. The digimon was mad. And it was on the rampage. One arm came out of the fog at one of the cars in front. By some miracle, the driver managed to get out before the arm crushed the car under its weight. Then panic turned into chaos. Takato cried out, “Okay, forget the plan! Guilmon! Go!”

“Go where?” the box asked. Takato groaned, “No, I mean get its attention. You know, bring it some where else?”

“Where else should I go?” the box asked.

“One side gogglehead!” a red haired girl wearing sunglasses shouted. Henry was at a loss now. There were two of them. The girl looked up at Devidramon and then retrieved a digivice from her pocket, “A champion level, huh? Should be no problem.”

“What do we do Rika?” A yellow fox appeared beside the girl. She smiled, “Don’t worry! I’ve got the right upgrade for this.”

She produced her deck from a pouch on her belt and shuffled through the cards. After a moment, she found one and pulled it from the rest. Then she did the strangest thing, she swiped her card through a slot on the side of her digivice, “Digimodify! Excalibur Activate!”

“Excalibur?” Henry repeated, “Isn’t that MagnaAngemon’s Sword?”

To his amazement, a purple gauntlet appeared on the fox’s arm and a violet blade extended out from it. It was the armor of a holy type digimon and Devidramon was a dark type digimon. Renamon now had the advantage she needed. The fox dashed in with the sword, leaping into the air and with a sharp blow, she sliced off one of the Devidramon’s fingers. The devil dragon roared and hissed in protest, then swatted at Renamon. The fox leapt out of the way and landed atop a street light, “I think we made him angry.”

“That just means we’ve got his attention. Keep attacking Renamon!” Rika replied, “Use your speed and stay on the move!”

That was when Takato gave a different order, “No, don’t stay on the move! Well, do stay on the move, but get it out of here! Move it some place else!”

“What are you talking about? We’ve got the advantage!” Rika spat back, “We can take him! Now get out of our way goggle head!”

“You’re putting people in danger! Get him out of here!” Takato gestured at the panicked crowd around them, only to be met with Rika’s response, “If we defeat him, it won’t be a problem! What part of this aren’t you getting goggle head? Move it!”

“No one has to beat anyone!” Takato tried to reason with the girl but it was too late. She wasn’t listening to a word he was saying by that point and was more interested in winning. Henry couldn’t dare to stand back and watch this anymore. But it took his partner slapping him in the face to get him to finally move, “Henry! We can’t just sit here! We have to do something.”

He snapped himself out of his stupor long enough to call out to them, “He’s right! We can’t let anyone else get hurt!”

“Oh great, another one of you who’s too scared to fight. Look, just stay out of our way and let me and Renamon take care of this!” Rika snapped at him too, “Once this digimon is gone, there won’t be a problem any more.”

“NO!” Takato roared at Rika defiantly, stepping in so close to her that he looked ready to attack her. Rika raised an eyebrow at the boy, “And what are you going to do? It’s not like you had a problem with that Dokugumon before.”

“That was different! I was trying to get you and Renamon out of there!” Takato explained, “Now I’m trying to get you guys to stop fighting long enough to get Devidramon elsewhere.”

“And do what? Lose him like you lost your partner?” Rika snapped back. They were so busy bickering with each other that neither of noticed that the Devidramon had turned its attention on them. Or that it was now looming over them while they bickered. In fact, Henry was sure that if he didn’t do something, they’d be dead. He cried out, “GUYS! LOOK OUT!”

Both kids became aware of their situation just long enough to realize Devidramon was hovering over them. Rika was frozen by fear but Takato still had enough of his sense to grab Rika’s hand and run, “RUN!”

The box was thrown into the air to reveal a large red dinosaur that followed after them, just as Devidramon’s remaining hand came crashing down on top of them. Renamon took this chance to throw herself at Devidramon again, swinging away at the giant monster with her wrist mounted blade but unable to deliver a serious blow - every time she got close, Devidramon would sway at her.

Takato answered, “Fine! Next time, I’ll leave you under the giant monster’s claws. Henry, do you have any ideas?”

“What?” Henry took a step back as he realized what he’d been asked. He took one look at the giant monster and once again found himself unable to say anything. Nothing he could think of didn’t involve Terriermon putting himself into serious danger. The little digimon spoke up, “Henry! You have to get me in there! I can help too, y’know.”

“NO!” Henry snapped at his partner. The little digimon looked up at his partner in silent defeat, “But Henry-”

“But nothing! You’re not putting yourself in danger!” Henry answered his partner quickly to keep him from going into danger.

“Oh great, that’ll be fun to work with,” he heard Takato say. Henry stepped back and watched Takato explain to Guilmon, “I guess it’s just you and me now buddy. Come on, follow me!”

“Okay!” Guilmon said more excitedly than he should have. The two ran off in front of the giant Devidramon and Takato started calling out, “Devidramon! HEY! Look at me!”

Devidramon turned his attention back to the pair and it growled angrily. Rika snapped, “You better not be doing what I think you’re doing goggle head!”

“That’s right! Follow me!” Takato called out at it, “Try and eat me! Look at how delicious I look!”

Henry couldn’t believe it. Takato was trying to use himself as bait. Once Devidramon turned to follow, the boy ran off, “Got his attention! Come on Guilmon!”

“Are we playing a game? I’m confused,” Guilmon panted as he followed after Takato. Devidramon stomped after the two as they rounded the corner and continued on - leaving behind a confused Terriermon, Henry, Rika, and Renamon. Renamon’s eyes narrowed, “What is he doing?’

“I think he’s trying to take our digimon from us!” Rika growled, “Don’t let them get away Renamon!”

“It might be too late for that. They’re running pretty fast,” Terriermon observed as they disappeared around another corner. Rika clicked her tongue, “Well, too bad for them. Nothing can out run Renamon. Let’s go!”

Renamon took off and Rika gave chase, leaving behind both Henry and Terriermon to stare in disbelief as they ran off. Terriermon asked, “So are we going to chase after them, too? It’ll be hard to keep up if we don’t start moving.”

“We don’t have to keep up. We just have to follow the loud explosions and the screams of terror,” Henry answered. Terriermon looked up in disbelief but obviously excited, “Does this mean we’re going to help?”

He shook his head, “No. I mean we should. But...”

Henry pauses again. He had to help. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? He had a digivice and a digimon partner. This was his responsibility. Their responsibility. Still, the doubt lingered in his mind. He never answered his partner, instead giving chase after the screams and explosions he knew would go wherever Takato was leading the giant digimon.

* * *

Rika and Renamon caught up with Devidramon just as Takato and Guilmon led it into another park. She didn’t recognize this area or know where exactly she was but she knew that she wasn’t about to lose another digimon - another victory because of this one kid’s intervention. Although she was thinking that, it didn’t change the fact that nothing Renamon could do pulled Devidramon’s attention back to her. It was fixated on Takato - fixated on his stupid goggle head and his even dumber partner. 

“What’s with that big oaf?” Renamon complained, landing beside Rika at the park entrance and gasping for breath, “I’m stabbing it with a sword and it’d rather chase them!”

“Great question,” Rika grit her teeth, “It’s about time we-”

A sudden bright flash of light deep inside the park caught her attention. This late at night, it was hard to miss it happening. It practically lit up the neighborhood. She looked at Renamon who returned her confusion with an equally blank stare. Rika grit her teeth, wondering just what that goggle head had done. She raced in with her partner in tow, coming to a small shrine where Takato lay sitting on the ground with Guilmon beside him.

The boy massaged the back of his head, “Okay, that took longer to figure out than it should’ve. What setting was that on anyway? Wait, never mind. Are you okay Guilmon?”

“I’m hungry,” the dinosaur complained, and Takato sighed, “We just ran for our lives from a giant killer digimon and all you can think about is food. Aren’t you even tired.”

Rika was furious. Once again, they’d been robbed of a win because of these two. Rika snapped, “Where’s the Devidramon goggle head?”

“I don’t know. The Digital World I guess,” he shrugged from the ground, “We lured him out here to get him away from the street. Then there was this bright flash. Next thing I know, Devidramon’s gone. I don’t know where he went.”

“You...you...aaargh!” Rika shrieked in frustration, trying her best to not throw a violent fit in front of this kid who’d just deprived her of a chance to make Renamon stronger. She pointed at him, “That’s the last time goggle head! Renamon and I had that! You owe us a digimon to absorb!”

“Absorb? What’re you talking about?” the boy asked, looking between his red partner and her. Was he intentionally playing dumb? No. That wasn’t going to work on her. He’d already demonstrated that he knew more than he was willing to let on. Not that she cared. They owed her a digimon, and she saw a way to get it. She scowled, “Fine! Play dumb for all I care. We’ll just take that partner of yours. Renamon!”

“Yes Rika,” she felt Renamon appear just behind her. Perfect. She was going to get the victory she was owed. She pointed at the big red moron and shouted, “Take out that sorry excuse for a digimon!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rika is on the attack! Will Takato and Guilmon be okay? What happened to Juri? Will Henry and Terriermon intervene or stand by? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next Friday February 8th at 15 PM CDT. If you guys loved it, let me know in the comments section. I love hearing your thoughts and answering them as soon as I'm able. And hey, don't forget to bookmark/kudo the story to keep up with all the latest updates. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far and hope you all are looking forward to how it ends. That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter:  
> Then his cell phone rang. It seemed he wouldn’t have to wait to suffer, “This is Yamaki.”  
> His boss answered with an uncharacteristically calm anger, “It’s all over the news Yamaki. You better have a good explanation for this.”  
> He bit his tongue to keep himself from shouting back, “We can detect the creatures as they attempt to cross over into our world. We can’t control where they appear or how long it’ll take for the QRF to arrive. Until you authorize the Juggernaut for use, all we can do is run damage control.”  
> “Don’t try to pin this on me Yamaki,” the minister growled under his breath, “What’s your damage control plan since that’s all you have?”


	6. In Fighting

Henry rejoined the group just in time to see Renamon swinging her sword like crazy at Guilmon. Guilmon lost any semblance of the naive child he'd behaved like previously, devolving into a violent hissing monster that charged and attacked. Terriermon mused, "You must've been really slow Henry because it looks like we missed something important."

Henry said nothing back to that comment, instead now wrestling with the idea of whether or not he should get involved here. Takato actually called out to his partner, begging the red dinosaur to stop fighting while Rika cheered her partner on.

"That's it! You've got him on the ropes!"

"Guilmon! Please! Listen to me!"

Guilmon ignored Takato, getting the drop on Renamon by whipping his tail at her at her feet. The fox fell on her back and Guilmon was on her, digging his fangs into her arms. At first, Henry was sure Guilmon would win. But then he saw Renamon ready the sword to strike a fatal blow on Guilmon. It was a feint, a trick to make Guilmon an easy target. And he fell for it. Rika cheered, "That's it Renamon! End this!"

"Guilmon! NO!" Takato ran for his partner, calling his partner's name and trying to get his attention, "RUN AWAY! GUILMON!"

Just before Renamon could deliver the blow, Guilmon let go of her and stood up, "Takatomon? Sorry! Sorry! Can we play now?"

It was a curious moment to see. Guilmon had completely forgotten about the fight he was just in, leaving a confused Renamon lying on the ground. Rika didn't share Takato's concern and ordered, "What're you doing Renamon! End that baby digimon!"

"Yes! As you wish!" Renamon shouted, scrambling to her feet and readying to attack. Just as she charged forward, Takato wrapped his arms around Guilmon and spun the digimon behind him, "I'm glad you're okay buddy! Don't run into a fight like that again!"

Renamon stopped mid charge, coming to a stop just short of them with a surprise look on her face. She let the gauntlet slide out of her arm as she relaxed her wrist, eyes still fixed on these two. Rika scowled, "What are you doing Renamon? Finish it!"

"Rika," Renamon frowned, looking back at her partner in dismay. Rika didn't seem to be able to see it, which was a shame for her. Henry thought it was obvious what was going through the rookie digimon's mind. She'd seen Takato run to protect his partner that way, and was actually standing in her way to defend him. He wondered what Rika had put Renamon through that she was hesitant to attack this digidestined who cared enough about his partner to stand in her way. Was it that she was unfamiliar with the compassion or that Rika had conditioned her to not attack people?

Either way, she wasn't attacking. And Rika was infuriated by her insubordination, "I'm giving you an order Renamon! If you want to get stronger, this is how you do it! End those dweebs!"

"Knock it off!" Henry finally found the courage to scold her. Rika finally took notice of him standing there, as did Takato and Guilmon. Terriermon leapt out of his arms and ran into the middle of the stand off, "Why are you guys all fighting anyway? Weren't you busy fighting that giant Devidramon a second ago? Why not celebrate!? Where'd he go anyway?"

"We're not celebrating until we put a digimon in the ground! Right, Renamon!" Rika spat out angrily, "We came out here to beat a digimon and absorb its data and that's what we're going to do."

Renamon looked back at her partner silently and Henry commented, "I don't think she wants to fight anymore. Do you Renamon?"

Terriermon giggled and patted the fox's leg, "Moumantai!"

"Huh? Moumantai?" Takato repeated aloud. Henry sighed, "I don't know. It's a thing he says. So what happened to Devidramon?"

"He went back to the Digital World. I think…hope…look, the important part is he's not causing problems anymore," Takato answered meekly, before turning to Rika, "Why do you want to fight digimon so bad anyway?"

"It's what Renamon wants. It's why she came here! She chose me because I was the best partner and I'm going to help her become the strongest digimon," Rika declared loudly, "Got a problem with that?"

Takato nodded and counted them off on his fingers, "A few problems, yeah. First one is that Guilmon was just born. He's not fighting anyone on my watch. Second thing is Renamon coming to this world. You said she came here to get stronger. Why? What's going on in the Digital World? And third, what do you mean best partner?"

"It's the way of the Digital World," Renamon answered quietly, "The weak die. The strong live. As for Rika, well, she is the tamer."

"The tamer?" Takato looked between them, "What does that even mean?"

"You're wrong about the Digital World," Henry interrupted, "All the books said that only the evil digimon wanted to fight and kill each other. The rest of the digimon were just trying to live their lives in peace."

"But I was fighting Gorillamon. Does that make me a bad guy?" Terriermon asked. Henry folded his arms, "They attacked you first, that's different. It's self defense. This…this is just violence in the name of violence."

"Henry! Moumantai!" Terriermon said with his ears raised above his head. He sighed, wandering if his partner meant to stop over thinking things or if he meant not to worry about it since he couldn't do much about it anyway. He groaned and looked over at Takato, "And you. What's your deal? Yesterday you said you didn't know a thing about digimon and here you are with _one_."

"I didn't know if I could trust you yesterday," he answered firmly, making sure to keep Guilmon just behind him, "It's a bit of a relief to see that you're Terriermon isn't a doll."

"Only to his sister since she won't leave me alone," Terriermon admitted unhappily. Guilmon approached Terriermon and started sniffing the digimon like a dog, pushing his snout so close that Terriermon doubled over in laughter, "Stop! Stop! That tickles!"

Guilmon turned around to face his partner and asked, "Takatomon, is he a friend? He's a lot nicer than the other one."

"I take exception to that assertion," Renamon protested. Then all three digimon looked up. Terriermon's ears stood on end, Renamon looked off into the forest, and Guilmon started growling again. Takato asked, "What is it Guilmon? Do you smell something?"

"Humans just entered the park," Renamon answered, "I can sense them."

"They smell like the ones from yesterday," Guilmon added excitedly, "More friends?"

Henry looked between them, completely out of the loop of what they were talking about. Between the two of them, he knew who he trusted to stand beside and made his way over to Takato, "What's going on? Who's here?"

"We should get out of here. RUN!" Takato shouted at the top of his lungs. Renamon vanished instantly while the rest of them took off at a run. Rika scowled, "We're not done here goggle head!"

"Will you let that go?" Takato shouted back as they all made their way out of the other side of the park.

* * *

Yamaki arrived on the scene some time after the QRF had already secured the area and examined the park carefully. This was where it had gone - the wild one that crossed over from the Digital World. But there was no sign of it. The reports were clear - a twenty foot tall flying dragon with glowing red eyes and black leathery skin. Something like that didn't just disappear. It had to be some where. So where did it go?

One of the hazmat team approached him with a spare hazmat suit in his hands, "Sir, you shouldn't enter the area without this."

Yamaki brushed him aside and made his way into the park without one. As the Director of Operation for the Hypnos Program, it was his responsibility to prevent things like this. And the devastation was all the evidence he'd needed that he'd failed in that endeavor. All the way up the street were over turned cars, bent street lights, broken windows, cracked pavement, and more. The worst of it was not knowing what that monster brought with it when it came over to this world. Radiation? Disease? If any innocent civilians suffered because of his failure, then he intended to suffer with them. The only solace he could take was knowing no one was hurt right now.

Then his cell phone rang. It seemed he wouldn't have to wait to suffer for a different reason, "This is Yamaki."

His boss answered with an uncharacteristically calm anger, "It's all over the news, Yamaki. You better have a good explanation for this."

He bit his tongue to keep himself from shouting back, "We can detect the creatures as they attempt to cross over into our world. We can't control where they appear or how long it'll take for the QRF to arrive. Until you authorize the Juggernaut for use, all we can do is run damage control."

"Don't try to pin this on me Yamaki," the minister growled under his breath, "What's your damage control plan since that's all you have?"

Yamaki forced a smile to keep himself calm, "We need to keep the populace calm. A panic could trigger a riot. We report it as an isolated incident: mass hallucinations triggered by a terrorist attack utilizing an airborne hallucinogen. We tell them that plans are underway to prevent similar incidents in the future."

"And how are we going to explain the fact that there were two of them?" the minister demanded. That was the question he wasn't ready for. What did he mean there were two? Their scanners only detected one making its way to their world. Where did the second one come from? He couldn't let the minister know that and calmly repeated, "Same thing. It was an isolated terrorist incident and the situation is under control."

"Is it under control?" the minister demanded.

"Yes sir," Yamaki said to try and reassure his boss. His boss nodded and hung up the phone. Then Yamaki sighed. It was not under control. But he couldn't let him know that. All he could do was rely on his sources. The resident expert in Hypnos was Izumi, and Yamaki was going to have him working another all nighter to explain what just happened. For now, there had to be something left over from this attack. Something he could use to further test the Juggernaut program and persuade the secretary to authorize its use.

...

Rika dashed after the rest of the boys until they came upon an empty alley. They all gasped for breath, too tired to keep running but knowing they couldn't stand out in the open. Takato stumbled his way over to a dumpster and grabbed the largest box he could find, throwing it over his partner to conceal him, "Stay under there until we get you back to the park buddy."

"Who were those guys?" Henry asked between gasps for breath. Takato shrugged, "No idea. Last time they started shooting at Dokugumon. And who knows what they did to him…her…it."

"I think it's time we all compared notes and figured out what's going on," Henry grunted out, leaning against the wall to keep himself upright while he continued gasping. Rika was just as tired and wasn't in the mood for any more talking, "Oh great, you and goggle head will have a lot to talk about."

Henry looked over at Takato, hoping for an explanation and he answered grimly, "We stopped by her house earlier, hoping to figure out what was going on. It's been a weird day."

Henry felt a small smile draw itself on his face. As inappropriate as it was, he couldn't help but feel like one of the main characters in those books he read, "It's like we're digidestined from those novels. You know - A Digimon Adventure and Another Digimon Adventure by that Takeru Takaishi guy."

"I hate to break it to you, but those are just books," Rika pointed out. Terriermon shook his head, "Not in our world. In the Digital World, everyone knows about the digidestined and how they fought to stop the Dark Masters."

"Until you think about it and realize it doesn't make any sense," Rika pointed out grumpily, "The first one is set in 1998 and the second one is set in 2002. But it's 2001! And the guy's an old fart! So explain to me how someone who was supposed to be eight in '98, and twelve years old next year, can be in his twenties right now?"

Rika had to admit that she enjoyed the realization on Henry and Takato's faces. It seemed like it hadn't occurred to either of them that the story made no sense. Then Takato's answer caught her off guard, "I'm glad someone else noticed. But you're missing the point, Rika. Digimon _are_ real. We know that for a fact. And Terriermon says he knows about the digidestined. So it's safe to say that parts of it are true. Who's to say it's not all true?"

"Common sense," she countered, before standing up in frustration. Now she was too annoyed to even care about getting Renamon to absorb a digimon. She adjusted her belt and straightened herself out before turning to leave, "Forget this. I'm going home. Next time we meet, we're settling our score goggle head."

* * *

Once Rika was gone, Terriermon commented, "That girl has issues."

"Be nice Terriermon," Henry lectured his partner only for Terriermon to reason, "I'm just saying what we're all thinking. She's mean."

"Don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes," Henry reminded his partner. Unfortunately for him, Terriermon didn't seem to grasp the concept, "Her shoes are way too big for me. I'd be tripping with every step. Besides, why would I put my feet in her shoes? Is that a thing in the human world?"

"Forget it," Henry sighed. His partner was impossible. He was just hoping Takato wouldn't be so difficult, "So that's the box you lost, huh?"

"Yeah. That's my fault," Takato laughed nervously, "It turns out he wasn't the one at school causing a ruckus too. Well, that's a lie. He ate the food in the kitchen. He probably saved us from being poisoned."

"So...what weird things were you trying to piece together?" Henry asked. Takato looked back out the alley and explained quietly, "A weird thing happened with Guilmon earlier today. It was like he turned into a ghost. I don't know why though. That didn't happen to Terriermon too, did it?"

Henry looked down at his partner who was busy trying to join Guilmon under his box. Guilmon's large frame gave Terriermon no room to actually get in though. He shook his head, "No. at least, he didn't say anything."

"That's what I was afraid of," Takato frowned, "I'm beat. Let's figure this out tomorrow after school. How's that sound?"

"Sounds good. Let's meet at the gate after class!" Henry added, just now realizing how tired he felt. He scooped up Terriermon and was about to leave, but recalled his dad's words last night. He didn't want to walk back into that conversation and asked Takato, "By the way. Where have you been keeping Guilmon?"

Takato eyed him nervously, "You're not going to attack him are you?"

"Are you kidding me? Henry hasn't let me fight anything since I got here!" Terriermon complained, "I wanted to help with that big guy, but Henry kept saying no!"

"It was for your own safety," Henry said, unsure if he believed his own answer. He looked over at Takato and explained, "I can't really bring Terriermon back home. It's complicated."

"Henry's dad thinks he stole me from some girl he has a crush on," Terriermon answered. Henry groaned, unable to stop his partner from blurting out what he said before adding, "I just need a place to keep him for now."

Takato continued to eye him curiously, then eyeing Terriermon. The little digimon was giggling with delight in Henry's arms despite his attempts to control his partner. Then he sighed, "Mom and dad wouldn't let me keep him. They never saw him, so they thought I was keeping a dog in my bedroom. Anyway, I'm keeping him in a tool shed at the park for now."

"Room for one more?" Henry asked hopefully.

* * *

Renamon followed her partner, leaping from one street light to another. It was dark out now, so Renamon could move more freely and openly without having to worry about being spotted. But it was odd to see that so many people didn't feel the need to look up. Then again, it was likely they didn't need to worry about something attacking from above and could freely distract themselves with their lives.

And it seemed that was the case for her partner. Rika moved silently through the streets with her hands in her pockets. She never once looked up at the people around her or did anything to regard them. Three boys who were just a little older than her stopped upon seeing her, recognizing her, "Is that who I think it is?"

"Dude, that's the digimon queen!" another said, pointing at her, "She's the one who wins all the tournaments! She's the best player!"

"Dude, stop pointing. She's like five years younger than you! You're going to end up on a list or something," the third said.

Despite what they said, Rika kept walking - either because she wasn't interested in what they had to say or she didn't want anything to do with them. She walked through the streets like she was completely alone - but it was a self imposed isolation. She wanted to be alone. Why?

When Rika finally got to her home and started making her way up to the house, she called out Renamon's name. And she leapt to her side, "Yes Rika?"

"You said you were the strongest digimon, didn't you?" Rika asked her quietly.

Renamon answered, "I am. Which is why I chose you. So that I could become stronger.

Her answer didn't seem to satisfy Rika and she snapped, "Then how come you couldn't beat either Dokugumon and Devidramon? And that weirdo digimon!? Why haven't you won? Because it sure isn't me. I've been making the right calls in all those fights. I gave you the winning strategies and the winning power ups each time."

Renamon wasn't able to answer the question and lowered her head. Rather, she could answer but knew it wouldn't be one Rika wanted to hear. So instead she apologized, "I'm sorry to disappoint you Rika."

Rika frowned, "You'd better start shaping up if you don't want to keep looking like an idiot. Tomorrow we're going to track down those dweebs and we're going to finish what we started. Like it or not, we're taking out that baby digimon and his partner."

"Yes, Rika," Renamon agreed. Well, she agreed out loud for whatever that was worth. But she wasn't sure she agreed with her partner entirely. Not after she'd seen the way that other human treated his partner. Neither of them were strong fighters but there was no doubt in her mind that he truly, deeply cared for his partner. Why else would he have thrown himself in harm's way to protect the digimon? And it made her wonder if Rika would've done the same for her?

And she was sure Rika asking the same questions. Rika had given her the best strategies and the best power ups. But their partnership had only produced one victory and it was against a digimon who was already her equal in fights. What were they doing wrong? What was she doing wrong?

She kept these thoughts privately to herself for now. There was no need to give her partner reason to doubt her ability. In fact, she was starting to wonder if Impmon had the right idea. He'd said that she shouldn't trust her human partner. Perhaps he was right.

* * *

Juri went to school the next day worried sick that something bad happened to Takato and Guilmon. She tried to catch up to them in the crowd, but the panicked people running in the other direction made it impossible to find them. And as soon as she saw the monster, fear overtook any concern she had. Neither of them had made the news the night before, but the digimon had. And everyone was talking about it. Everyone.

The news said it was some kind of terrorist attack and most of the adults seemed to believe. But no one their age did. Some of the boys were talking about how cool it would be to actually have a digimon for themselves. Everyone else was wondering how a bunch of toys could be real, and if they were dangerous.

Which brought back her concern to Takato and Guilmon. Maybe they'd gotten pulled to the other world, or worse, they'd been captured by the government. Of course, all of her fears were alleviated when Takato walked into the classroom like nothing happened. Although it seemed weird that he wasn't with either Kazu or Kenta. And it was even weirder that he was early.

As soon as she saw him, she got up and spoke to him, "Takato, what happened last night?"

Without a word, he took her hand and led her outside into the hallway. He spoke at a whisper, "We can't talk about that at school, Juri."

That was right. She promised to keep this all secret and she's forgotten. She apologized, "Right, sorry. But I'm glad to see you're alright."

"Same," he replied. A long pause followed between the two. She wasn't sure what to say next to him - she didn't really talk to boys. Takato was probably the one she'd held the longest conversation with. She needed to talk about something else - something not digimon related, "I didn't see Kazu or Kenta with you today."

Takato scratched the back of his head nervously, "Yeah, they weren't at the park this morning. I don't know where they-"

Right on cue, both Kazu and Kenta appeared behind them. Both looked annoyed about something and she was sure they were about to let Takato know all about it. And she was right. Kazu spoke first, "Alright, spill Takato! Did you have anything to do with last night?"

"What, no! Of course not!" he lied badly. He'd just introduced them to his digimon yesterday. There was no way they were going to believe him if he tried to deny anything. That didn't exactly stop him from trying, "I was with Juri!"

"What?" Juri blinked while the boys added, "Juri!?"

While it was technically true, she didn't expect him to just blurt it out. In fact, she felt her face turn red from embarrassment. She wasn't embarrassed to be around boys, just flustered that she was the cover he'd chosen. Hi next couple of words didn't help as he scrambled to come up with his excuse, "Yes! It was a prank! Some Christmas lights, a fog machine, and a radio playing a tape of dinosaur noises! She was helping me clean up!"

"You really expect us to believe that?" Kazu groaned in frustration. Takato nodded, "It's true!"

"You know we could just go to that same place later after school and find out for ourselves right?" Kenta pointed out. Takato hung his head shamefully and pushed his fingers together, "Well it was worth a shot, y'know?"

"How did you get a digimon? Of all people! YOU!" Kazu gestured at him angrily, obviously annoyed about the fact that he didn't have a digimon, "I'm twice the card player you are!"

It was here that Juri knew she had to defuse the situation, "Hey! It's okay, Kazu! I don't have a digimon either."

"You don't even like digimon!" Kazu pointed at her angrily. Takato slapped his hand away, "Don't point fingers, guys. And can we please not fight about this? I don't want to make a scene in front of-"

"Shouldn't you four be in class?"

Juri wasn't sure if she was happy to be saved or flustered to get in trouble. It was their teacher Miss Asaji wearing the oddest of coats - a ratty old blue long coat with yellow stripes going down the arms and a hood on the back. The coat was obviously a size too small for her, but it helped outline her more feminine features and came out to about the size of a small trench on her. She gestured at the clock and said, "You've got about a minute to get in there before you're late."

"Nice coat, Miss Asaji," Takato nodded, sliding the door open and pushing everyone inside. Juri hurriedly made her way to her desk, trying to hide how red her face was as the bell rang. Miss Asaji followed inside a second after them and began, "Good morning class. I know you're all probably worried about what happened last night. So to help take your mind off things, we're going to jump right back into our studies and work extra hard!"

"Oh come on, Miss Asaji! A digimon showed up yesterday!" one of the boys groaned, "Can't we skip class for a day?"

"We still have a curriculum to maintain," she reminded them, slapping the books under her arm, "So take out your textbooks and turn to chapter 4, so we can start on geometry."

The class groaned, but Juri couldn't help but feel relieved. This meant no one could see how red she was.

* * *

Rika got home from her private school just in time to swap out of her gray uniform and throw on her preferred t-shirt and jeans. She already had her plan for the day and knew exactly what she wanted to do. Her homework could wait for now. She had a score to settle. Part of her wondered if she was being petty over this. The other part didn't care. Once her deck was safely in its pouch, she made her way to the living room only to see her mother there.

Her mother of all people. It was such a rare sight, that she did a double take upon seeing her. Her mother was young, pale skinned with brown hair and a pretty face that made men take another glance. And some women. Not that Rika cared. Her mother smiled and waved, "Oh! Ruki! You're here! Come say hi to the fashion designer I model for, Sora Ishida!"

Rika made her way into the living room and saw another woman sitting on the couch opposite her mom. She looked about the same age as her mom but had a more serious expression her face and more vibrant red hair that she trimmed short. The woman smiled at her, "Hi Ruki. It's nice to see you, again."

"Hi," Rika frowned, really hoping her mom wasn't about to propose what she was about to propose. Then her mom said the words she dreaded while holding up some sketches and fabric, "She just brought over her designs for this fall's fashion line to look over. Aren't they cute? Anyway, we needed someone who could model the girls' line and since you're so experienced at it, we thought you'd like to join me for another-"

"No thanks. Bye!" Rika said, bolting for the door to get as far away as possible. She was tired of her mother constantly trying to get her into fashion and modeling. It shouldn't have been that hard to figure out. She hated frilly dresses and pretty ribbons and make up and everything else about it.

As she closed the door, she heard the designer say, "I see your daughter still has her attitude Mimi."

Mimi? That wasn't right. Her mom's name was Rumiko. No. Wait. She didn't care. She wanted out fast. Once she was safely out of the house and onto the street, she called aloud, "Ready, Renamon?"

"I am," she replied, appearing beside her. Rika took out her digivice, unsure of where to look for either boys. But once they were close to the digimon, her digivice should start pointing her in the right direction. That's when she'd make her move.

* * *

Henry waited for Takato at the school gate like they agreed, watching everyone else in the school hurry home. Terriermon was probably throwing a fit in the shed from boredom, and the idea of him running off and getting into trouble kept Henry worried. He trusted his partner...to a point. Then again, he was able to stay still like a doll whenever Suzie played with him. This shouldn't have been impossible for his little partner.

His anxiety wasn't helped by that fact that Takato was taking his sweet time to meet him at the gate. Just as he was sure he'd been forgotten and he was about to leave, he noticed Takato coming his way along with three of his classmates. Henry adjusted his bag nervously, certain that the boy had gotten himself into trouble based on the way he walked with his head down.

Takato smiled, "Hey Henry."

"What's all this?" Henry asked. The boy with the green visor demanded, "Yeah, what is this? Who's he?"

"Keep it down," Takato begged of the boy before explaining to Henry, "It's okay, they know about the digimon."

"WHAT!?" Henry almost gasped in disbelief, until Takato shushed him. Then the boy with glasses beside them asked, "So does he have a digimon too? Is he a digidestined like you are?'

"I'm not a digidestined!" Takato argued at just above a whisper, sounding more annoyed the longer the conversation went on, "Look, I said I'd show you guys again. Just...stop talking so loud, okay?"

Although he said that, it didn't do anything to stop those boys from speaking so loudly. He turned back to Henry and put his hands together apologetically, "I am so sorry for them. I caved to pressure. It's a weakness. I'm sorry. Which is weird because I usually don't but I guess it's just the new situation."

"Come on, Takato. Are we going to get to see the digimon or what?" the boy with glasses begged. Takato sighed, "I really am sorry."

Henry looked between the three additional kids and figured they were part of his friend group. It would've been hard to keep secrets from his friends, but that didn't mean it would've been safe for them to get involved in whatever was going on. Henry patted the boy's shoulder, "Don't worry about it. I probably would've caved too. I'm Jiangliang, but everyone calls me Henry."

"Hiya Henry, I'm Kenta," the boy with glasses answered first, only to get cut off by the boy with the visor, "And I'm Kazu, the cool one."

"And...she's Juri," the girl answered with a yellow sock puppet that suddenly appeared from nowhere. Henry looked from the puppet to the girl, noticing that she was suddenly looking away, "Uh-huh. Anyway, we should go before our partners start eating the shed."

Henry took the lead for them since Takato appeared too overwhelmed to think properly. It was a good thing that the park wasn't too far either. All the while, he tried to not chuckle at the questions he was bombarded with - trying to maintain a calm appearance despite the fact that the questions came one after another.

As they made the familiar trip up the steps, Takato finally spoke, "Guys, you have to promise not to run off screaming again."

"What? We didn't do that!" Kazu said in their defense in a way that screamed they had. Takato nodded, "You're right. I must've been confused by the loud screams coming from your mouth and the fact that you left without coming back."

Then Kenta reasoned, "It was a tactical retreat, y'know? We needed to assess the situation from afar to understand it."

"Any further back and you'd need to mail your assessment," Takato answered with a smile, before finally hurrying along. Once they reached the top, they found the gate into the shed broken open. It didn't take long for Takato to fly into a panic, "Oh no. GUILMON!"

He hurried into the shed, calling his partner's name. Kazu groaned, "He didn't get out, did he?"

"I don't think so. Look!" Henry gestured at the gate, noticing something Takato had missed. The gate itself was fine but the lock on the outside had been smashed. It had been broken from the outside. Then he remembered the men in the Hazmat suits. Fear turned to panic. He hurried after Takato into the shed to find-

Brightly colored streamers running from wall to wall, a bunch of half eaten cakes, balloons, and Terriermon sitting with Guilmon and the little strange white digimon from before. Takato looked around in utter confusion, looking to Henry as if he would have an explanation. The boy could only shrug back before Terriermon leapt into his arms, "Hey Henry! Calumon came back to throw a birthday party!"

"Birthday party? Who's birthday is it?" Henry asked dumbfoundedly. The little digimon called Calumon giggled, "No one silly! But they'd never seen a birthday party before so I threw them one. I almost couldn't either. There was this funny guy on the door holding it shut, but I convinced him to open it with some gentle persuasion!"

"He means he bashed open the lock with a rock!" Terriermon clarified, "He may be odd but he's a lot of fun! He brought us cake and balloons and everything!"

"And where exactly did you get the cake?" Takato asked nervously. It was at this point that Juri, Kazu, and Kenta finally entered the tool shed. Juri stood just behind the boys, using herself to block them so that they'd run right into her if they tried to flee. The two boys seemed nervous at first, until they noticed Guilmon's face was covered in a beard frosting. Then their confidence seemed to find its way back to them.

"That's it? Takato, your digimon looks dopey," Kazu folded his arms behind his head. Kenta approaches the digimon and patted its head, "Whoa! So cool!"

Guilmon turned his head in confusion, licking his frosting beard off so that he could sniff the two boys. Kazu recoiled fearfully while Kenta seemed amused. Guilmon remarked, "You guys don't smell like pee today."

"What? Why would we smell like pee!?" Kazu took offense to that, "We don't pee our pants."

Kenta added, "Just how would you happen to know what pee smells like?"

"Guilmon go in corner!" Guilmon pointed at a corner of the shed marked by stains and what looked like a dried mound of dirt. Takato added, "We should probably skip out on that cake. Anyway, Henry - we should probably start comparing notes."

Henry breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see that things were finally starting to move, "Yeah, that sounds like a good-"

"Found you goggle head," came the familiar cry of an angry girl. Waiting for them at the entrance was the ever scowling Rika with a hand on her hip, "We got a score to settle."

"Do you just follow us around or something?" Henry clicked his tongue angrily, annoyed that she just refused to leave them alone. Takato answered, "You used that radar on the digivice, didn't you? Three digimon and two digivices right here. We might as well have had a big flashing sign over our heads saying, 'here we are'."

Rika gave no answer, instead snapping her fingers to signal her partner to appear. Then she pointed at Takato, "This time, you're going down goggle head."

Takato closed his eyes and answered, "I don't want to fight you. But if you want to fight so bad...we will. But outside, not here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rika wants to let Takato have it, but Renamon finds herself doubting her reasons. Who will come out ahead in this fight? What is the Juggernaut program? Why does Rika act out? Will Henry intervene this time? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in two weeks on Friday February 28th at 8 PM CST. If you loved it, let me know in the comments section and I'll try to respond as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not bookmark the story to keep up with all the latest updates? That's all I have for now! I'll see you guys in the next installment! Now let's take a look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "Uh huh," Henry folded his arms and leaned back against the wall, intent on questioning Takato just a little longer, "So what? You think we're digidestined or something?"
> 
> "I wouldn't call myself that," Takato scratched the back of his head, "I wasn't chosen by destiny or anything."
> 
> "So what would you call yourself?" Henry asked, now curious to see what Takato thought on the whole thing. He answered with a big smile, "Tamer."
> 
> Tamer? Why a tamer? That name sounded too mean. Like he was forcing his digimon to learn tricks and do things he didn't want to do. Which made sense when he considered that Rika called herself that a minute ago, "So like Rika said she was going to be the best tamer? Doesn't that sound a little...I don't know, mean?"
> 
> Takato's smile grew wider, "But then it'd be just like the books!"


	7. Gargomon - The Champion

"Sir, we have more wild ones," Riley announced as the alarms started blaring. She looked at the screens and watched three symbols moving freely, already processing the steps she'd need to take to launch the tracking programs.

Yamaki followed all three targets moving fast across the large screen, wondering where they would attempt to make their entrance into the world. But there was a problem: there were three of them. They only had one QRF. They'd need to split up the team. But the team's effectiveness would go down dramatically. They'd need to pick one. But which one? Which target should he choose? He asked, "Can we get a scan on them?"

"Deploying scanning program now," Riley answered, "Locking onto targets. Identifying."

"Sir, they're bioemerging!" Tally announced aloud, "We don't have time to complete the scans. Which one do we go after?"

Yamaki panicked, looking at where the three targets were moving. Shinjuku, Odaiba, and Oifutu - all public areas with a lot of foot traffic. Why here? Why did they all concentrate over Tokyo? He closed his eyes and pointing at one. He just wished it was the right one, "That one! Deploy there!"

"Understood. Deploying the QRF!" Riley announced as she slammed the alarm to mobilize the QRF team. Yamaki watched all three targets disappear. There was nothing more he could do now. He made his way to laboratory to hurry the scientists along. They needed the Juggernaut Program now more than ever.

* * *

Rika had been waiting for this fight all day. She couldn't wait to finally beat that rookie Guilmon and wipe that smile off of the goggle head's face. Ever since he led her out here, he wore a confident smile on his face like he had a plan. But it didn't matter what plan he had up his sleeve. It wouldn't change the fact she was the better tamer. And she was going to prove it. And it looked like all those dopey kids were coming along to watch - as annoying it as was.

Goggle head led the way to a nearby soccer field, making his way out to the center with her just a few steps behind him. They took opposite sides of the center position, squaring off like they were about to start a soccer match. Then Takato made another desperate plea at peace, "We don't have to fight each other, Rika. We can talk this out. We're on the same side."

"Just laying down, huh? Your digimon is as good as mine," Rika folded her arms, looking over her shoulder to see Renamon at the ready. The goggle head's digimon was also beside him, but he was busy munching on a piece of cake that he'd brought from the shed. Rika rolled her eyes at the digimon's own indifference to its impending doom. That sat well with her though, that just meant it would be easier to beat him. Then Rika snapped her fingers, "Take him out Renamon!"

Renamon leapt onto Guilmon, tackling the unaware digimon to the ground where they started rolling to pin the other down. Whenever they reached the end of the roll, Renamon had Guilmon pinned beneath her and the dinosaur was digging his teeth into her arms. It only lasted a second until Guilmon started another roll to drag Renamon around, while she desperately tried to get her arm free. Without missing a beat, Rika knew what Renamon wanted to do and produced a card from her deck, "Digimodify! Strength Boost Activate!"

With a swift kick to the gut, Renamon was able to finally force open the dinosaur's jaw. She followed it up with another kick that sent the dinosaur flying through the goalie's net and into the trees. Renamon used this advantage to leap into the air and fired a round of her attack, "Diamond Storm!"

The crystals tore into the red dinosaur, finally able to pierce through the digimon's skin and hurt it. Panic appeared on the goggle head's face as the gravity of his situation finally sank in - he was in over his head with no way out for himself or his partner. Then Takato turned to her to make another plea to peace, "What is the point of all this? What do you get by beating me?"

"I get to prove I"m the best digimon tamer," Rika said, "I'm going to make Renamon the strongest digimon there is. That's all there is to it."

Takato's eyes seemed to widen, "To what? What for? What does she get by becoming the strongest digimon? What sort of fulfillment do you get from making her like that? Because all I see right now are two bullies."

She could see what he was trying to do and it wasn't going to work, "Nice try goggle head, but words aren't going to save you this time."

* * *

From the sidelines, Juri watched in horror as the two digimon fight on while Takato and Rika continued to argue. She just couldn't understand it. Why was Rika so angry? And why was she taking it out on Takato? It didn't help that Kazu and Kenta were cheering the fight on, "Come on, Takato! You can't let a girl beat you!"

"Yeah! Do something already! Use a card! Tell Guilmon to attack! Something!"

Despite their cheers and advice, all she could see Takato doing was talk. It was like he didn't even want to fight - he didn't want to do this. So why'd he do it? Did he think he could talk Rika out of it? She seemed to have her heart set on it. Then Calumon commented from beside her, "Huh, those two are playing way too rough with each other. If they're not careful, they're going to get hurt."

"Calumon, they're fighting!" Henry pointed out in disbelief, "They're not having fun, they're fighting!"

"But why would they fight? Aren't they friends?" Calumon asked innocently enough, somehow oblivious to the possibility that people could be mean spirited to each other. Terriermon answered, "Friends is kind of a stretch. Henry, shouldn't we help them?"

"NO!" Henry snapped immediately, trying to keep his partner as far from that vicious fight as he could. Terriermon's ears dropped, "Why not, Henry? If we don't go in there - Guilmon's going to be Deadmon."

"I..." Henry paused, unable to even finish the sentence he started. Then Terriermon sighed, "Okay, forget this, I'm going to help him!"

"TERRIERMON!" Henry tried to scold his partner but that didn't stop the bunny eared digimon from running out into the fight. Renamon was on the defensive now, running circles around Guilmon while red fire spat out of its mouth, "Pyrosphere!"

If Renamon's diamond storm was able to shred steel, then Guilmon's pyrosphere could melt it and set it aflame. And that was the danger Terriermon was running into. Henry gave chase and Juri gasped as the two just narrowly avoided getting set aflame. During one of Renamon's dodges, she rolled between Terriermon and Henry. At the same time, Guilmon shot a blast of fire out of his mouth and it set the grass between them on fire.

Henry leapt back, watching helplessly as Terriermon continued on, "Guys! Stop fighting!"

Juri tried to work up the courage to call out to them only to be blinded by a sudden flash of white light - a bright light coming from little Calumon beside her. The little digimon seemed to be in pain too as the light came forward. She raised up her arms to cover her eyes but she could hear Terriermon cry out, "Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"

When the bright flash of light faded, there was a new digimon standing in the middle of the soccer field - about the size of a full grown adult. It looked like someone had blown up Terriermon like a balloon, stuck him in a pair of pants and forced him to wield a pair of guns over his arms. Without a word, the digimon trained those guns on Renamon and started firing. The guns sang like a chain saw, firing an endless stream of bullets that followed the fox digimon as she moved to retreat. At some point, her path put both Rika and Takato in the line of fire. Juri gasped, closing her eyes and trying to convince herself that they would be alright.

* * *

"You don't have to do this Rika," Takato reasoned, "You can be strong without having to take your anger out on others! We can work together, all three of us!"

"Not interested in that goggle head," Rika answered bitterly, "You owe me. Now give up and we can make this easy!"

"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"

Rika looked off to the side where Gargomon now stood, aiming his guns at Renamon and firing. Rika readied her digivice, planning on helping her partner before things went south but the digimon bee lined for the forest. And Renamon's path put her in Gargomon's line of fire. As the line of bullets drew closer, Takato leapt onto her and pushed her down, "LOOK OUT!"

Rika panicked as bullets zipped past over her head, with only Takato on top of her. _On top of her_. That thought alone turned the panic into rage. What was with this kid and pushing himself in harm's way to help her? What, did he think he was some knight in shining armor? As if! Once the gun fire died down, she pushed him off with all her might, "Get off me, goggle head!"

He rolled onto his back beside her on to the grass and massaged the spot where she shoved him, "Good to see you're okay. I'm fine too."

"Stop trying to help me and fight me!" Rika demanded, pushing herself off the ground and turning to face the boy angrily. The boy smiled up at her goofily, "Most people say thank you. Anyway, we should probably do something about that."

He pointed at the champion digimon firing his guns like crazy into the surrounding forest. Rika hated to agree with the idiot but they had to do something about that digimon right now. It didn't seem like he could control his own weapons and he was going to tear the park apart if he wasn't stopped now. But how? Dokugumon was a champion, sure, but the spider didn't have rapid fire gatling guns on each arm. Renamon's speed could keep her just one step ahead of Gargomon. So she'd need speed. But speed wouldn't do much if she couldn't take the hits. She nodded and produced two cards from her deck, passing one to Takato, "You know how to use these cards, right?"

"This isn't exactly the time for a card game," Takato complained, "Gargomon's out of control and we're in the line of fire."

Rika rolled her eyes. This was why she didn't care for newbies. She took the card in her hand and answered, "Just follow my lead, goggle head. Digimodify! Speed boost activate!"

She swiped her card through the digivice and waited for Renamon's speed to kick in. Then she looked at Takato expectantly, knowing it was his turn to do the same. He turned the card in his hard anxiously, like something clicked in his head, before he finally swiped the card, "I get what you're thinking about. Okay. Digimodify!"

He swiped the card through the digivice, "WarGreymon's Brave Shield Activate!"

A golden shield with a sun crest appeared in Guilmon's arms and Takato called out, "Guilmon! Use the shield to draw Gargomon's fire."

Guilmon sniffed the shield and then held it up towards Gargomon, calling the champion's name to get his attention, "Okay. GARGOMON!"

Gargomon turned to face Guilmon, still firing his guns. He pleaded while vibrating furiously with each shot, "Gu-gu-ilm-ilmon! H-Henry! He-elp-lp! I c-can't st-stop-p fir-firin-ing!"

Then Guilmon ran at Gargomon from the front, using the shield to absorb every shot. Rika tightened her fist in anticipation. Her plan was working. With any luck, Renamon would know what do next without her having to say a word. Then she saw a flicker in the forest. Renamon was on the move now, circling around Gargomon and running into him so hard from behind that she was able to pin him to the ground. His guns were still firing though, and each kick back had him vibrate violently. Then Guilmon rushed in and used his shield to help hold the digimon down.

"Gargomon!" Henry called out over the roar of the bullets, running to his partner's side, "Gargomon! Stop shooting!"

"I-I do-don't kno-now h-how!" Gargomon answered. Takato rushed in too, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Gargomon! Relax your hands!"

"What-at han-hands?" Gargomon answered, "I h-ha-ave gu-uns n-ow-ow!"

"Just try it! Relax them! Like...relaxing a fist," Takato shouted out. Once he said that, the guns stopped firing and Gargomon stopped shaking. Both Guilmon and Renamon fell off, Renamon complaining, "That was like riding a Minotarumon. We are never doing that again."

"Takatomon, I'm dizzy and the ground is shaking," Guilmon whimpered. Takato went to his partner's side, patting the little digimon's head and adding, "It's alright buddy. Take a minute and relax."

Rika didn't care so much for her partner relaxing though. She was upset. She'd been trying to get the fox to digivolve since day one. And she had some explaining to do, "What gives, Renamon? How could you let that weak little Terriermon digivolve before you? He hasn't even fought before!"

"I'm sorry, Rika. I'll try harder," Renamon answered meekly as she tried to keep herself upright. That answer was hardly satisfying to Rika, who felt only disappointment at her partner's continued failure. She clicked her tongue and looked over at Takato. She wanted to beat him. But he'd saved her twice now. She'd have to let this go for now. But that digimon digivolve before Renamon. What was she doing wrong? What was wrong with her?

She marched over to the boy and held out her hand. He gave her a confused look at first, and offered his. He seemed to think she wanted a hand shake. She slapped his hand away, "The card you idiot."

"Oh," he fumbled the card in his hand and offered it back, "Um, thanks."

"Whatever. Let's call it even for now," she frowned, swiping the card and turning to leave. Then he grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, "Wait! Look, you don't like me. I get it. Well, not really. I have no idea what I did or what your deal is. But something is going on and we need to work together to figure out what that is!"

She looked at everyone there - the weird guy whose digimon was now a champion, the even weirder guy with the digimon he treated like a pet, the girl with the sock puppet, and the two other boys who were jumping with excitement at what they were calling the coolest thing they'd ever seen. She clicked her tongue. There was no way she'd ever want anything to do with these losers and turned to leave, "Forget that noise. I'm going home."

"She always does just leave, huh?" Gargomon remarked as he finally pushed himself back up off the ground, "I'm hungry. Can we have some more cake?"

"Me too," Gargomon added.

* * *

Henry chuckled at his partner's bottomless stomach and pointed out the little detail that he'd missed, "How are you going to eat with guns on your hands?"

Gargomon examined the little arm cannons he had on the ends of his arms now and tried shaking them off to no avail. Then he tried to get a leg on it and tried to kick it off, only for him to go red in the face from the effort, "How do I get them off? How am I supposed to eat?"

"I can help silly!" Juri volunteered excitedly. Henry rested his arms behind his head at her thoughtfulness but realized that there was another problem that they weren't seeing. Spoon feeding him was a short term solution, they needed to de-digivolve him so that he could feed himself. With his appetite, they couldn't afford to have someone around all the time just to feed him. Worse yet, it would be impossible to hide him now.

Takato motioned for everyone's attention and gestured back to the shed, "Let's go back inside and talk. Oh, and nobody eat the cake. I don't know when these guys have ever washed their hands."

He led the way back into the shed, with Guilmon happily coming along still dragging WarGreymon's shield behind him. The rest of the group followed a short distance behind him - mostly because Kazu and Kenta were busy climbing all over Gargomon to see his guns for themselves. Gargomon complained the whole time, "Oh man, can you guys please stop climbing all over me? These guns are heavy enough!"

"But they're so cool!" Kenta cheered excitedly, "Look at them! You practically cut down half the forest doing this! That's awesome!"

"Awesome's not the word I'd use," Takato remarked, pocketing his hands sheepishly. Once they were back in the shed, Guilmon started munching on some of the leftover cake. Without any plates, Juri just scooped up a handful of it with a napkin and dropped it into Gargomon's mouth. Any joy the digimon could have derived was lost because Kazu and Kenta refused to leave him alone.

"So notes! What's your story with Terriermon?" Takato asked Henry curiously, "How did he get here?"

Henry answered, "That new computer game that came out. I was playing as Terriermon when suddenly all the other digimon started attacking him. I tried to stop them but Terriermon got overpowered. The next thing I know, there's this light and Terriermon's in my lap. What about you?"

"I...drew a picture of Guilmon," Takato thumbed at his partner, "I made up a bunch of stats and everything. Then my card reader started eating my drawings - before I could stop it, it became a digivice and it was pointing me to Guilmon."

The digimon was done with the cake now and had retreated into digging his hole again, making it bigger and deeper. Henry eyed the digimon nervously. It was obvious that Takato cared for his partner, but he was treating him like a pet. Then again, he was hardly any better. The only reason Terriermon was here was because his dad would kill him if he brought him home again."

And it occurred to him something was wrong with what Takato said, "Did you say you made up?"

He noted Takato beaming with pride, "That's right. Came up with him on the spot one day in class. Well, in the hallway. I was late. That was when all this weirdness started. I've been trying to figure out what's been going on ever since. Oh! By the way! Did Terriermon ever start becoming...ghostlike?"

"Ghostlike?"

"You know...like he was half there and half not. Kinda see through but only for half of him?" Takato asked. Henry has no idea how to make heads or tails of such a weird question. Then Takato added, "I guess not. That's too bad. It started happening to Guilmon yesterday. Then Calumon showed up and...where's Calumon?"

The question sparked everyone's attention now and they all looked around. Kazu complained, "Oh man. That little guy probably ran off when all the fighting started!"

"But he was right next to me a second ago," Juri pointed out, "I hope he's okay."

"He probably ran off to go break into the school and scare the nurse again," Takato commented. Henry couldn't believe it had been little Calumon and asked, "Really? That was him?"

Kazu added, "That little guy was the one who broke into the nurse's office and caused all that trouble? How did something that small cause such a mess?"

Kenta took that moment to put his foot in his mouth, "It's cause Juri's a girl and girls are afraid of small things like mice and bugs. That's probably why the nurse started screaming, too."

Unfortunately for Kenta, he was too busy talking to notice Juri had snuck up behind him with a fist full of cake. Before he knew what was happening, she smothered his hair with it. The boy yelped in surprise and toppled over, "Hey, what gives?"

"Boys are dumb," was the only answer she gave before hurrying back to get more cake for Gargomon. Gargomon sighed, "Thanks for feeding me Juri but I like eating with my own hands. How do I get them back?"

"What we have to do is digivolve you back, which usually means tiring you out or you getting beaten up by a stronger opponent," Henry explained to his partner's dismay. Gargomon countered, "I don't like the idea where you guys beat me up."

"Well how about the idea where you tire yourself out?" Takato suggested, miming each action as he listed them off, "Run laps around the park, lifting weights, jumping jacks, do that running leap thing, or whatever. I don't know. Do you want to stand upside down on your head?"

"That'll just give me a headache!" Gargomon hissed, until Takato added, "And it'll wear you out faster! It's worth a shot."

Gargomon gave Henry a confused look, as if he were expecting some kind of approval from him. Henry could only shrug in confusion, unsure of the plan himself and unable to think of any other ideas. Gargomon shrugged back and marched over to a wall, "Can you guys help me up? This is kinda hard to do when I'm this big!"

"I'll do it!" Kazu and Kenta volunteered in unison with raised hands, making their way to the large digimon to help flip him over. It took next to no effort to get the digimon balanced on his arm cannons, using their leveled surface to keep himself balance. Guilmon, amused by Gargomon's balancing act and curious enough to give it a try, attempted the same. On the first attempt, the digimon fell over onto what remained of the cake. After a sickening display where he licked it all off himself, he tried again while using his tail to support himself. This time, he fell face forwards. That didn't stop Kazu and Kenta from cheering him on. Juri even got in on it, attempting to hold Guilmon's legs steady so that he could balance himself before letting go.

All the while, Henry kept his eyes on Takato. There was definitely something off about him. There was no denying that. But there was something else. Something that was hard to place. He was supposed to be as new at this as the others, so how did he happen to know how to get Terriermon back to normal? And how did he know how to stop Gargomon's guns? And Devidramon disappeared last night. How?

"You've thought a lot about all of this, haven't you?" Henry asked. Takato nodded ecstatically, "Well, digimon are awesome, y'know? I...just thought it'd be cool to...finally have one. And now I do. But if digimon are real, it makes ya wonder how much else of it is real too? Like the digidestined in the books, or the crests, the sovereign digimon; not to mention the evil digimon like the Dark Masters. As cool as it is, I can't help but worry."

"Uh huh," Henry folded his arms and leaned back against the wall, intent on questioning Takato just a little longer, "So what? You think we're digidestined or something?"

"I wouldn't call myself that," Takato scratched the back of his head, "I wasn't chosen by destiny or anything."

"So what would you call yourself?" Henry asked, now curious to see what Takato thought on the whole thing. He answered with a big smile, "Digimon Tamer."

Tamer? Why a tamer? That name sounded too mean. Like he was forcing his digimon to learn tricks and do things he didn't want to do. Which made sense when he considered that Rika called herself that a minute ago, "So like how Rika said she was going to be the best tamer? Doesn't that sound a little...I don't know, mean?"

Takato's smile grew wider, "But then it'd be just like the books!"

Henry chuckled. He'd read the books too and knew exactly what Takato was talking about, "Well you do have the goggles and the hoodie. But they were called digidestined. And I don't think you're a thousand year old life form from another world."

"And if I was?" Takato raised an eyebrow, a playful smile drawing itself on his lips. Henry balked at the idea. Sure the kid was weird, but odds were that he was trying to emulate a character in a book. There was no way he was a thousand years old. Then he looked over at Gargomon, disappointed to see that his partner still hadn't changed back, "So how long does that take?"

He didn't have time to be here all day. He had homework to do. Then again, maybe he should rethink his priorities with wild digimon running around. And who knew when the next digimon would appear.

* * *

IceDevimon gasped for breath as he appeared in the strangest part of the human world. It seemed like he'd landed on the roof of a building of some sort. A rather large building. The devil digimon examined himself carefully to make sure that he'd made it through all right. His white leather attire seemed to be okay, along with his chains, boots. Then he looked over his shoulder - both wings were still there. He grabbed at his head to find two long horns where they should be. He seemed to be okay.

Then he took a moment to take in his surroundings. This was the human world - there wasn't a doubt of his mind about that. He could tell from the many squishy pink humans going about their lives on the streets below. But the sight also gave him something else to behold - countless tall buildings stretching as far as the eye could see illuminated in the dark by lights as countless as the stars. There was nothing like this in the Digital World.

Or rather, there was no longer anything like this in the Digital World. But those were memories for another time. He reminded himself of what he was here for - to find the human who could make him stronger. The girl who'd turned him down because someone else came. He wanted his revenge - to prove that he was stronger and was more deserving. He would just have to find them. And it wouldn't be hard either. He could smell the fox digimon who took his place. Which meant the girl couldn't be far behind. Now was the time to make his move.

* * *

Kazu and Kenta departed after the novelty of a real life digimon wore off so that they could go watch the new episode of a show they enjoyed. Then Henry left after Gargomon changed back to Terriermon, relieved to see his partner but knowing he had to start his homework and didn't want to disappoint his parents by not completing it on time. This just left Juri and Takato who were the last to leave. But this was by no accident. Although Juri pretended to be busy cheering on Guilmon as he tried to stand on his head, she'd heard Takato talking to Henry. And she couldn't help but notice that he'd left a part out.

A part that he explicitly asked her not to talk about. She didn't mind keeping secrets, she had a few of her own. But something like that...well, there had to be something wrong and his refusal to acknowledge it was a problem. Despite that, she wasn't able to bring herself to face Takato over it. And she sheepishly through her sock puppet in his face once they were at the bottom of the steps to the shed, "Why didn't you tell Henry about your hands becoming like ghosts? Or Rika?"

Takato seemed flustered by the question, "I...have reasons Juri."

"I'm not Juri, I'm the superintendent!" she insisted with her sock puppet voice, trying to avoid eye contact. Takato threw up his hands defensively, "Look, Juri...I...um..."

He seemed unable to answer. Either he was too embarrassed, or was too ashamed of the answer. He grumbled under his breath before explaining, "Look, the truth is I haven't been completely honest about a lot of things, not just that. And...I could explain it...but it's better for you if I don't."

"How is it better? Woof! Lying is bad!" Juri countered, finally forcing herself to look up at Takato. Takato was rubbing his arm nervously now, "Don't get me wrong Juri. Or superintendent. Am I really talking to a sock puppet right now? What's wrong with me? Never mind, I'm not keeping secrets because I'm up to no good. It's...there are a lot of bad people, people who might want to hurt me or anyone close to me."

Juri blinked at that statement. Was he saying he was concerned for her safety? He looked away quietly, "These people showed up before - started shooting at another digimon who'd appeared before that one. And...I don't know what they did to it. But if they knew what I was, they'd go after me too. And they'd probably do to me what they did to that Dokugumon. Which is why it's just better for you if...you don't know anything. If you don't know anything, they won't come after you."

"Woof, so you're trying to protect Juri?" Juri blushed as she said that out loud, looking away now to hide the fact that her cheeks were flush. A boy was trying to protect her? A boy who wasn't her little brother or her dad? Did Takato like her? As in like _like_ her? No, that had to be a mistake. She wasn't worth liking. She wasn't worth being around. Bad things only ever happened to her. Then Takato's answer made her flush more, "Yes."

She spun around now so that he couldn't see her face. Takato added, "But whatever is doing it to the digimon can't be good. It only affected Guilmon which makes me wonder if where we are in this park is closer to the origin signal than we realize. But if that's the case, which direction is it? Because it didn't happen at Henry's or at Rika's. So what was it? Humans shouldn't have that kind of technology yet."

That last part caught her attention. What did he mean humans? He was a person too, right? A human. But he said it like he wasn't one. And whatever happened to Guilmon, happened to him too. And he said those people in the weird suits would come after him if they knew who he was. So...who was he?

"Anyway, it's getting late Juri," Takato added, "We should probably head home. I'll walk you there."

Juri nodded quietly, still trying to process everything that had just been told to her. Takato liked her. And wasn't a person. Maybe he was a digimon? A digimon cared about her. That was more terrifying that she wanted to admit. Because now she could only think about what the actual Takato looked like.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New digimon are loose in the Real World! What do they want? Can the new team of Tamers come together to defeat them, or will they keep infighting? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next week on Friday March 8th at 8 PM CST. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section and I'll try to respond as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not follow or favorite the story to keep up with all the latest updates? That's all I have for now! I'll see you guys in the next installment! Now let's take a look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "You embarrassed me twice already. You said you were the strongest digimon, right? So how did you lose to a Dokugumon and how did you that idiot who's partner never fought before manage to digivolve before you!?"
> 
> Her partner was eerily silent, and that just made her angrier, "ANSWER ME!"
> 
> "I didn't lie to you Rika," she answered, "I'm doing my best. Perhaps the problem isn't me."
> 
> "Oh so it's my fault, is that it?" Rika felt her blood boil and her face go red, "Because I keep giving you every advantage, every power up, any thing you could want or need. Even my strategies work. How do I know? Because the goggle head followed my strategy to beat Gargomon and it worked. So why aren't you getting the results?"


	8. A Deal with IceDevimon

 

When Rika finally arrived at her front door, she stopped just short of opening it and called for her partner quietly, "Renamon."

"Yes, Rika?" her partner answered from behind her. She turned to face the fox and noticed the concern in her eyes. If she knew what was good for her, then she definitely should be afraid. She looked the fox in the eye - wanting to get all her frustration out here and now, "You embarrassed me twice already. You said you were the strongest digimon, right? So how did you lose to a Dokugumon and how did that idiot who's partner never fought before manage to digivolve before you!?"

Her partner was eerily silent, and that just made her angrier, "ANSWER ME!"

"I didn't lie to you Rika," she answered, "I'm doing my best. Perhaps the problem isn't me."

"Oh so it's my fault, is that it?" Rika felt her blood boil and her face go red, "Because I keep giving you every advantage, every power up, any thing you could want or need. Even my strategies work. How do I know? Because the goggle head followed my strategy to beat Gargomon and it worked. So why aren't you getting the results?"

Renamon was even quieter now, and her expression was hard to read. Was she mad? Scared? Livid? She didn't care. All she wanted was answers and the fact that Renamon wasn't giving any only fueled her anger. Every second without an explanation only made her blood boil more. Then, finally, Renamon gave an answer, "Perhaps this partnership was a mistake. It's obvious that we're incompatible with each other. I think it would be best if we part ways."

"That's fine with me," Rika answered, watching Renamon disappear. Then she stamped her foot in anger. How dare she disappear on her. She shouted out into the darkness, "If I can't help you, there's no way anyone else can!"

Nothing. No response. She'd left. Fine. They always left in the end anyway. Her dad left, mom was rarely around...what did she expect? She preferred to be alone. It took another moment for her to cool down enough to slip back into the house, to find her mom still talking with that fashion designer earlier. Even when mom was around, all she cared about was fashion. She hoped to avoid getting dragged into another conversation about being a model again. She hated modeling. As she tiptoed by the living room, she over heard the designer say, "You can't keep trying to make Ruki like what you don't. She's a tomboy. Like I was when we were her age. It's just not her thing and forcing her will only push her away - sort of like what happened with my mom and me."

"I just want to have the same kind of relationship with her like I had with my mom. Before...y'know," her mom's voice fell quiet. The fashion designer added, "That's why you got so close to Koushiro's mom after you two started dating. Have you heard from him recently?"

Her mom was quiet for a long time before she answered sheepishly, "Nothing. He just...disappeared like TK. Of all the people in the world, I didn't think he would ever just leave - abandon us for no reason. He doesn't answer his phone or his emails...you don't think he hates me do you?"

"He's not that kind of guy. Matt's worried about his brother too. He says he's going to quit the band after this tour and go looking," the designer said nervously, "It bothers me. I checked in with the others and they're all still okay."

Rika raised an eyebrow. Dad had walked out on them. She thought her mom knew that. So why was her mom refusing to accept that? He wasn't coming back. Sign the divorce papers and move on. She shook her head at those thoughts, though. As much as she didn't get along with her mom, the idea of her dad walking out on them was just as upsetting to her. Why did he leave? Why wasn't he coming back!?

She was so angry, she ran back into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. Her mom and the designer definitely heard her, but she didn't care. She just wanted to be alone now. In a fit of rage, she kicked over the desk in her room and dropped down onto her bed - screaming into the pillow to vent. It didn't help.

Then she heard a knock at the door, "Ruki? Honey? Are you home?"

It was her grandmother. Rika lay there, face down into the pillow without answering. Of all the people in her family, her grandmother was probably the only one she liked - if only because she was the most patient and understanding of her family. Her grandfather on her mom's side lived outside the city and refused to ever visit, while her grandmother on that side passed away before she born. It was an event her mom didn't talk about. As for her grandfather on her dad's side, he'd passed away not that long ago from heart failure.

On top of being reminded of her family troubles, she also had to deal with the fact that the loser who'd never had his digimon right before had suddenly made his partner digimon digivolve. How!? The goggle head had fought more than that guy! What was she doing wrong? It had to be Renamon's fault. She'd lied to her. Lied about how strong she really was. She was the best there was when it came to this. That's why they called her the Digimon Queen!

As red hot as this made her, she also noticed a deathly chill in the air. She sat up to get under her blanket and realized she wasn't in her room. She wasn't even in her house. Wherever she was, it was full of ice and cold. And it ran down her spine, making her shiver not just with cold but dread. There was something else here with her in the cold and the dark.

Maybe that fear was the reason she failed to notice two long white arms reaching for her from behind until they'd wrapped themselves around her. She tried to let out a yelp, but one hand moved to cover her mouth.

"It's okay tamer. I'm not going to hurt you."

* * *

Takato and Juri made their way back down the street. It was night out now and they both should've been home a long time ago. But Takato didn't seem to be in any particular rush to get there. He'd been quiet since the park and hadn't said a word since. She was sure there was something else he wasn't saying - and it probably had to do with all that weird stuff he said. Or maybe it had to do with that thing he said about liking her. Well, he didn't say like. He said protect. But boys could never say they liked a girl. What else could protect mean?

And she was still trying to process that. Boys were gross. Well, maybe Takato wasn't all bad. He seemed nice, even though he was weird sometimes. What would her friends think? They definitely had something to say about all the time she'd run off with Takato. Oh no! Did they notice? That wasn't good. She was sure they were going to give her a hard time about. Nah, they couldn't. They weren't boys - only boys were mean to each other. Right?

She snapped to her senses when she heard the familiar beeping of Takato's digivice. He seemed alarmed at first, jumping in terror at the sound before pulling his digivice out of his shirt and holding it in front of him like a locket, "Oh, not now. No, not now, I'm busy!"

"What's going on?" she asked, even though she could see the screen as plain as day and the arrow that was on it. Takato tapped the digivice's screen and began talking to himself, "It looks like there's another digimon around here. And it's...moving. Not good. Shoot, okay, I won't be able to get you home. I need to go back and get Guilmon."

"Then I'll come too," Juri volunteered, only to be cut off with a sharp, "NO!"

Takato seemed to pause - as if he realized he'd just snapped at her and his tone shifted to become more apologetic, "I'm...I didn't mean to snap, Juri. I'll...look, let's hurry and get you home so you'll be safe. Then, I'll go back and-"

"NO!" she protested just as quickly, before going red in the face as she realized she'd just raised her voice for no reason. She lifted up her sock puppet again, "If Takato is going to go somewhere, then Juri will come too to make sure he doesn't get himself hurt."

She looked up briefly, noting the confused look on his face and he nodded, "Okay. But stay behind me and Guilmon. Let's hurry back!"

* * *

Henry managed to get back home just before his curfew was up. Which was good news for him since he didn't want another lecture about punctuality or responsibility or anything else like that. He'd been thinking on what Rika had said the other day in the alley and wasn't sure what to make of it. He didn't know how he'd never noticed but there were inconsistencies. Maybe the whole thing was made up? That had to be true. But that didn't explain the digimon, the digivices, or…the whole thing was making his head hurt.

He'd managed to take two steps into the apartment when his digivice started beeping like crazy. He shuffled through his pockets to try and shut it up before anyone noticed, but it was too late. His mom poked her head out of the living room, "Jiangliang? Are you home?"

"Yes mom," he answered quickly, trying to come up with an excuse for why he was heading back out into the hallway, "I just…gotta get some air."

He needed to get some air? He just got home! That was such a lame excuse. Once he was back outside, he started pressing every button on the device to make the beeps go away. Nothing. Realizing it wasn't going to stop, he looked at the screen to examine the cause of his bad luck. The radar was back and pointing in the direction of another digimon - IceDevimon. He cursed his luck.

He wanted to leave it alone but…he couldn't choose to ignore it either. People could get hurt. They would get hurt. And Takato was definitely on his way back to get Guilmon. He groaned at the choice before him. It was obvious which one was the correct one he'd have to take. Without another word, he raced back to his partner. Hopefully, he'd be able to help in time.

* * *

Yamaki watched the field agents return with another captured wild one in a containment cage. Izumi had decided to join him so that he could use his past experience to identify the creature, not that Yamaki needed it. All he was concerned with was testing the Juggernaut program and getting it ready to fire - once that was done, all of this would be over.

The field agents began unloading the cargo and they got their first glimpse of the target - a massive hulking minotaur with what looked like a gun for an arm. Thankfully, the gun was damaged and unable to fire. It seemed like the report were right. When this one emerged, it didn't do it properly and appeared partially in a wall - who knew what kind of risk that put the public at. This time it was a building, but next time it could be halfway in a gas tanker, a plane engine, or a human being. And that was completely unacceptable as far as Yamaki was concerned.

He looked over at Izumi, waiting for him to identify it. The computer expert was still shaken from the initial test fire of the weapon though. He made a mental note to make sure he saw a counselor and one of the on-site psychiatrists before sending him back to work. The last thing he needed was his top expert committing suicide or 'growing a conscience' and sabotaging the program.

Finally, Izumi found his nerve to identify the beast, "It's a Minotarumon - a champion level, virus type."

"In Japanese," Yamaki reminded Izumi, not really in the mood to deal with any more of his nonsense jargon. Izumi took a moment to collect himself, "It's attributes make it closely related to the spider your team acquired last time."

"But its a bull."

"Digimon don't operate on the same logic as our world. It looks like a bull, but has more in common with the spider."

"I see. Well, that just means we can use it for study. There's no need to test the Juggernaut again," Yamaki noted, gesturing at the field team to get it in discretely before anyone noticed.

POP! POP!

Two soft gunshots rang out from nowhere - one striking the monster square between the eyes and the other striking it in the shoulder. The field operatives stepped away from the cage - some scattering for cover while others drew assault rifles and traced the direction of the shots. Yamaki instinctively pushed Izumi to the ground and drew a pistol from inside his jacket. The shots came from just outside the facility garage, where he noted someone on an old motorcycle taking off at high speed. At this distance, his pistol couldn't get an accurate shot.

One of the field agent tried hitting the rider, but wasn't able to line up a shot quick enough before they disappeared around a corner.

Yamaki cursed. It was Burnt Leaf again. It had to be. They were aware of what they were doing and he couldn't have that. Not on his watch. But there was little he could beyond try to be more careful. One of the field operatives approached, "Sir, should we go after them?"

"No," Yamaki shook his head quietly, "If they wanted to kill us, they could've. This wasn't an attack, it was a message."

A message to stop what they were doing. But Burnt Leaf was just as unable to handle the situation as they were. If Burnt Leaf could handle the situation, they would've stopped more wild ones from crossing over already. No, this was about the fact that they were no longer the sole protectors of Japan. And Yamaki was going to send a message back. Once the Juggernaut was online, there'd be no more need for Burnt Leaf. He looked down at Izumi, who lay on the ground with his arms over his head. The man flinched when he tapped his shoulder, "Are you alright, Izumi?"

"Ye…yes," he answered, pushing himself off the ground, "I…I think I'm going to go back to my office and…clear my head."

Yamaki sighed. It seemed that the message had gotten through to Izumi and shook him to his core. That wasn't good news. It looked like the juggernaut program was going to face further delays. But there was one other thing bothering him about all this. The Juggernaut was the only weapon they had that could kill these digimon. Burnt Leaf did it with a gun. So what kind of gun was it that it could kill one of these things with one hit? It wasn't the head shot, otherwise all the chest shots from their guns would've done it. He tried to stay calm as he realized he was in over his head.

* * *

Renamon leapt through the trees of the park and settled herself in, sitting down atop it and taking a moment to think about what she'd do now that she didn't have a partner. It was true, Rika had given her everything she needed to win. But she barely won. She'd only won one encounter thus far and it was against a Goblimon - hardly a serious threat. And then there were the words of Impmon - a warning that she shouldn't trust humans. But Rika wasn't any ordinary human."

"Hey there, toots."

Speak of the devil, Renamon thought to herself quietly. She turned her head towards another branch and saw the imp digimon with folded arms staring down at her, "You ain't half bad, y'know? In all your fights, I mean. It's just a shame that the human you's stuck with ain't much help."

"Rika and I decided to go our separate ways," Renamon said quietly. The little digimon nodded in approval, "And good riddance, too. You'll be just like me - on your own and doin' just fine. Humans, who needs 'em right?"

Renamon was inclined to agree with that last point, but not with the first one. She had no intention of scraping out a meager living in the human world, living in the parks and eating whatever Impmon was eating to get by. She intended to find a way back to their world - she'd done fine on her own there before. There was one thing that stuck out to her though, "Why do _you_ hate humans so much?"

"I don't hate humans," Impmon defended himself, "It's more like I don't think we need 'em. They're a pain and all they do is hold ya back from what ya want to do."

She nodded along quietly as they went on, "Whenever anything goes wrong, instead of tryin' ta figure out what happened, they just start blamin' each other. Sometimes they blame you. And don' even get me started on they moods. Happy one second, mad as hell the next. And fo' no good reason either. It's like they's always in a mood y'know? Plus, sometimes they just start fightin' over ya. Ya know what I mean?"

That gave Renamon pause and she looked at the digimon curiously, "What do you mean _they_ fight over you?"

Impmon clicked his tongue angrily, "Never you mind that. I smell some humans comin' this way now."

As much as Renamon wanted to know what he meant, it was hard to ignore the smell coming their way and she turned her attention downward to see the boy called Takato, that girl with the sock puppet, Guilmon, Henry, and Terriermon running by. It was hard to make out but Takato was saying something about the digimon being in that direction. Her ears perked up at that - a chance to prove she would be okay on her own without Rika. And whatever they were running towards must be strong if the boy was willing to forego the disguise of the box.

Yes, this was her chance. She stood herself up and leapt into the darkness after them. Distantly, she heard Impmon call behind her, "What're you doing? Don't run afta' the humans. Aw geez…dames. What can ya do, right?"

* * *

Juri followed after Guilmon and Takato as he followed the path laid out for them by his digivice. They ran into Henry back at the park too, seemingly annoyed about having to deal with another digimon. Although it was night, they were getting a lot of looks from people passing by. With each turned head, Takato assured everyone that they were testing a rubber costume and no to worry about it. After running for a while, he stopped and stated, "Okay, the digivice says they should be…in there."

He pointed inside of an electronics shop, whose customers had stopped what they were doing to stare outside at Guilmon as he sniffed the glass. The little digimon remarked, "What's that? It looks fun!"

"I had this problem before," Takato answered sheepishly, craning his neck to look up at the many stories of the building, "I was chasing a cat but because the digivice can't tell us how high or low it was, I ended up looking for it on the wrong floor. Ended up having to jump out a window to get it."

Juri raised an eyebrow at what he said, certain that it was another of the weird things he'd say sometimes without reason. Then Henry pointed up, "Look up there. I don't know what that is but I bet that's what we're looking for."

Juri craned her neck up and gasped when she noticed the top floor of the building was sealed in a fine layer of ice. In the beginning of fall. It wasn't exactly cold out, but it wasn't hot either. There was no way that ice could've been there. Juri suggested, "Maybe they just left the air conditioning on too high?"

"It could be a Frigimon or a Mujyamon. Those guys love the cold," Takato answered absentmindedly, either ignoring or not hearing what she said. He went around the side of the building and called, "This way guys, I think I found a side door."

Sure enough, there was a side door with a sign marked 'Tenants Only'. Through a small window, they could make out the stairs that made their way up to a higher level. Without even trying, Takato patted Guilmon and the digimon understood to break the lock with his claws. Juri gasped as the door swung open and Takato took the first step inside, "What're you doing? We don't live here! That's breaking and entering."

Takato paused as he considered her concerns and tried to explain, "Technically, Guilmon broke the lock. I'm just entering."

"He's not wrong," Terriermon remarked.

"But this is," Juri gestured at what they were doing, trying to dissuade him from going further. She looked at Henry and was pleased to see he agreed, "She's right. We could get arrested."

A frown drew itself on Takato's face, as if he was disappointed with their responses, "The top floor of this building is frozen over and the digivice says there's a digimon around here, meanwhile you're worried about a sign. We need to go up there and make sure no one is hurt. We might get in trouble for ignoring the sign, but we won't get in trouble for helping anyone out. It's a sign, not my mom or Miss Asaji."

"You really are a little trouble maker," Juri said to him, but he didn't seem to notice, "I prefer to call myself a problem solver. Come on!"

"Is he always like this?" Henry asked her. Terriermon added, "He just kinda leaves and does his own thing. I respect that."

"I don't," Henry frowned.

Against her better judgment, she followed them up the stairs until they were at the very top and down a long hallway. Immediately, the temperature seemed to drop below freezing and their breath could be seen in the air. Voices echoed from the end of the hall, reverberating off the ice and becoming a garbled mess. But that didn't stop them from reaching the end and coming across the only door that was completely frozen over. And the voices were louder from the other side.

* * *

Rika ran free of the arms as soon as they let her go - the long, spindly fingers retreating back to an extra large set of claws and arms that dragged along the ground. And at the end of the arms was a tall, pale man in white leather costume that included chains and spikes along his body. Right away, Rika knew what she was looking at. The devil digimon IceDevimon. She minded her distance while he added in a comforting voice, "It's okay tamer, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you."

"How is kidnapping me from my room helping?" Rika demanded angrily, brushing her arms together as the cold started nipping at her. The devil digimon frowned, "I was there the day you chose your partner - I begged and pleaded to be chosen. Yet you chose that damnable Renamon. But I can see that she's no longer with you. Either it didn't work out, or she wasn't good enough. Either way, it confirms what I already knew. She was never meant to be your partner. I was. We would work so well together if you would just choose to work with me."

"Back off creep," Rika warned taking a step away from the digimon. A hand placed itself on her shoulder from behind, and she spun around in a panic to see IceDevimon standing behind her. She looked back at where the digimon had been just a second before and saw he was gone. There was only one - that was a relief. The digimon added, "I can sense much fear in you. So much anguish, anger, frustration. Those are the source of my energy - the source of my strength. Don't you understand, Rika? I was born to be your partner. I'm far stronger than Renamon ever was. Just look!"

He gestured above and Rika gasped as she saw a ceiling full of digimon frozen in ice above, on display like trophies. IceDevimon went on, "Just by being around you, I can feel myself already becoming so much stronger than what I was. Join me! Let's work together to become the strongest there ever was."

"Not interested," Rika replied through chattering teeth. It was so cold, she noticed her breath would turn to fog as quickly as it left her. If this guy was so cold that being around her made it this freezing, then she wasn't interested in it. All she wanted was to go home, "Now, let me go."

IceDevimon was impossible to read and his mood barely seemed to change, as if he'd chosen to ignore what she'd just said, "Think on it Rika. Together we could become the strongest in both this world and the Digital World. You could have anything you could wish for and I…I will be the herald to your greatness!"

"Is this supposed to be about me, you or us? Because it's kinda hard to tell with that speech you're giving," Rika answered angrily, annoyed that she still wasn't being shown the exit. She didn't get it - what exactly did this guy think would happen if he kept on talking? Then she realized she might actually say yes out of boredom if he didn't stop talking. It didn't help that he started talking right away, "We are meant to be together, tamer. Surely you understand this?"

"Look buddy, you picked a really bad day to come knocking at my door and you're obviously too dumb to take the hint. So let me spell this out for you," she stated matter of factly, marching right up to him and pointing a finger at his face, "I-A-M-N-O-T-I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-E-D. I am not interested. Let me go home."

IceDevimon remained unreadable, gazing down at her with his cold red eyes. She flinched under his unbreaking stare that seemed to be calculating what he would do next. When she took a step back in alarm, IceDevimon's eyes widened and he took her by the arm, "I didn't want to do this. But how else can I make you see?"

"Let me go!" Rika shrieked, scared of whatever IceDevimon was planning. She pulled as hard as should could to break his grip that seemed to get tighter and tighter on her. IceDevimon's grip became cold and icy, and she could feel her skin starting to burn under it. That was when she heard a loud boom - an explosion from a wall of ice that blew apart a small opening. For a moment, she was relieved to think that Renamon was coming to save her.

It didn't last when she saw both Guilmon and Terriermon come running in, followed by Takato, Juri, and that Henry kid. She groaned in frustration as they showed up - conflicted between relief to see her rescue and annoyance that these kids seemed determined to follow her around. IceDevimon released her, and she used that chance to put distance between herself and the digimon. For his part, IceDevimon growled, "Intruders, leave this place! You're not welcome here! Wait, digimon? With partners? But I thought only Tamer...no, you're digidestined! Yes that must be it!"

"Nothing of the sort," Takato shouted back at him, "Rika, are you okay?"

"Stop playing the hero, goggle head," Rika grunted, stamping her foot, "I don't need rescuing!"

Takato threw up his hands in defense, "I never said you did, but you could've fooled me - to be honest, we weren't expecting you to be up here. Where's Renamon?"

"Forget about her. Let's get out of here!" Rika grunted, trying to hide the fact that she was thinking the same thing. There wasn't any time to dwell on that, though. She ran as fast as she could to rejoin their side - not because she wanted saving. It was just the safest place at the moment. Then again, IceDevimon had gotten to her in her room. Who knew where else and how else he could get to her.

"Tamer! Please don't go!" IceDevimon grunted behind her, just as his icy hands shot out of the floor to grab at her. She stopped in her tracks, terrified of being grabbed again when Guilmon and Terriermon leapt on him, "Pyrosphere!"

"Bunny Blast!"

The fire ball and green energy blast hit their marks, and the arms retreated back into the ground. She took off again, slipping on the ice and sliding to a stop beside Juri. The girl offered her hand to help her up but Rika slapped it aside. She didn't need their help.

"Hey, Terriermon - why is it called Bunny Blast? Aren't you named after a dog?" Henry asked now of all times. Rika couldn't believe it. Why ask now? Terriermon rebuked him before he could, "Not the time, Henry."

"But-"

"Henry! We need to fight!" Terriermon spat back bitterly, "I'm not going to sit back and miss this."

Oh, right. Rika felt embarrassed that she forgot this kid didn't like to get mixed up in fights.

"Nobody fight!" Takato declared, rushing forward to meet with IceDevimon, "IceDevimon, what are you doing here and why do you have Rika?"

"I don't have to explain my reasons to you, human," IceDevimon answered angrily, rising into the air for effect to make himself more menacing. Then he advanced on them, brushing the boy aside. Takato made another attempt at diplomacy, "That doesn't mean you shouldn't. Whatever is making you do this, maybe we can help. That's why we have digivices, right? To help!"

"Enough," IceDevimon snapped at the boy, "I've found the one who can make me stronger. With her, we can save the Digital World. Out of my way!"

That question struck Rika. And from the looks of it, it got the others attention too. The gogglehead even asked, "Save the Digital World from what?"

IceDevimon was no longer interested in answering questions. He was only interested in taking Rika by any means necessary. Rika reached for her belt to retrieve a card - then she paused. Renamon wasn't here. She may as well try to knock IceDevimon over with her breath for all the good it would do.

Terriermon and Guilmon charged the digimon again, and were swatted aside with ease. Rika froze as IceDevimon advanced on her, and she felt a hand pull her. Great, it was the goggle head again! At least, she thought it was until she realized it was sock puppet girl, "We should run!"

She and Rika bolted for the hole in the wall just as Terriermon and Guilmon attacked again. And were knocked aside no problem. Takato continued trying to plea with the digimon. She closed her eyes, expecting to be captured again.

"DIAMOND STORM!"

Rika's eyes shot open and she watched a rain of diamonds slam down upon IceDevimon from above. IceDevimon raised up his arms to protect himself, "Another intruder. Wait, I know you. You're-"

"Renamon!" Rika gasped as the fox dove down from a perch and kick the champion digimon across the side of the had. The fox used the momentum of her kick to push herself off the ground as she landed and leapt up into the air again. IceDevimon growled, "Why!?"

He threw a punch with his elongated arms at her, "WHY DO YOU KEEP GETTING IN MY WAY!?"

Rika was glad to see Renamon had come to save her and called out, "Renamon, are you-"

"I'm sorry, I thought we weren't talking right now," Renamon snapped at her, silencing Rika. She wasn't sure how to take that. Renamon had turned her down. She tried to reply but was unable to find the words to speak. Renamon then charged again, ready to attack. She leapt into the air and fired, "DIAMOND STO-"

"TUNDRA FREEZE!"

A beam of cold ice shot out of IceDevimon's eyes, striking Renamon in the leg and encasing it with ice. Rika panicked, "RENAMON!"

"Henry! Snap out of it! Did you forget that you have a deck?" Terriermon complained, "Don't just sit there. Use one of them!"

Henry closed his eyes, seeming to wrestle with this dilemma before extending his hand out to Rika, "Can I borrow your deck?"

"My deck?" Rika raised an eyebrow. Henry nodded, "I didn't bring mine. You don't mind right?"

At this point, she didn't care. She removed her belt with the deck holder in it and handed it to the guy, "Take it. Do whatever you want. I'm going home."

"Home?" Henry repeated, dumbstruck. Rika nodded, not wanting anything more to do with this, "I hate this. And I hate digimon."

"Rika, wait!" Henry called after her but it was too late. She didn't care about what they had to say or what they wanted to do. She wanted nothing more to do with this, just casually strolling out of this ice cave through the entrance they made. Juri tried to reach out to her, but Rika slapped her hand away. She was going home.

* * *

Terriermon asked, "What's her problem?"

"Was it something I did?"

"GUYS! Stop fighting!" Takato shouted, pulling them back into the fight with the digimon in front of them. He was pleading with Guilmon, IceDevimon, and Renamon who were locked into a deadly three way battle. IceDevimon was trying to kill them both, while Guilmon was concentrated on IceDevimon. Renamon attacked the devil too, but kicked Guilmon away anytime he got too close. This left the dinosaur no choice but to defend himself every time Renamon tried to kick her away. And Takato grew more desperate, "Guys! Stop this, please!"

"It's no use, Takato. They're just going to keep fighting no matter what," Henry observed, taking Rika's deck out of her pocket to examine it, "Here, this should help! Terriermon, get ready to fly!"

"Huh?"

Henry produced a card and was about to begin swiping it, only to stop. They had to help. They had to fight. But Henry couldn't bring himself to do it. He just...couldn't risk Terriermon getting hurt. He dropped the card and apologized, "I'm sorry."

"You can't quit on me now, Henry!" Terriermon complained to his partner, but it didn't matter. Henry couldn't bring himself to fight. Just as he was about to put the deck away, Takato ran up to him, "Can I borrow that if you're not going to use it?"

Henry didn't hesitate to hand the deck over. He shuffled through it quickly, then turned back to the fighting quickly, "I'm sorry it had to be this way. Digimodify! Angemon's wings Activate!"

A flash of light burst from Takato's digivice and the digimon sprouted six angelic wings on his back. He took off into the air, just as Takato swiped another card, "Speed Boost! Activate!"

With that second swipe, Guilmon was zooming through the air - circling IceDevimon and pelting him with fireballs. The ice digimon went on the defensive, spreading his wings and trying to fly away from the fireballs only to bump into Renamon. Even though her leg was frozen, she was still able to leap into the air and use her frozen leg to club the digimon in the face. It knocked him over and shattered the ice into a thousand tiny pieces that splintered all along his body. He growled, "What are you-"

"Diamond storm!" Renamon shouted, leaping into the air and peppering the digimon with ice. Perhaps it was the continuous attacks that did him in, or the fact that he was caught off guard. Either way, this last blast was all it took to finally end the ice digimon once and for all. He screamed in a panic before bursting into a cloud of data. As he did, Renamon rose up and began absorbing his data. Henry rubbed his eyes to make sure he saw that right. She'd absorbed him. IceDevimon was gone and Renamon was the reason.

He asked, "What was that?"

"The way of the Digital World. The weak die. The strong live," she answered. She would've sounded cool if she wasn't gasping for breath from fatigue. She quickly composed herself and made her way for the exit. After what she did, Henry didn't want to be in her way. But that didn't stop Takato, "You didn't have to do that!"

"Your idealism is nice but it's only that. If you don't change your attitudes to this, you'll never get stronger," she answered before continuing on. She stopped again just short of the door, "I guess I should thank you. This only confirmed what I feared - Rika held me back. I'm better on my own."

And then she disappeared, unwilling to hear Takato remark, "But...you only won because we were all together."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rika has given up on being a Tamer! Will she rethink her decision? Are Rika and Renamon going to work together again? What danger is consuming the Digital World? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next week on Friday March 15th at 8 PM CST. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section and I'll try to respond as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not follow or favorite the story to keep up with all the latest updates? That's all I have for now! I'll see you guys in the next installment! Now let's take a look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> Guilmon dove in front of it just before it crossed the goal, catching it in his mouth and promptly spitting it out towards the goal, "Blegh, that tastes like dirt."
> 
> "It's been rolling on the ground," Terriermon laughed, "Guilmon ate dirt!"
> 
> "Guilmon! You're not supposed to eat the ball silly," Calumon giggled excitedly, pointing out the goal he'd just scored, "That's one point for us by the way which means you have to play the next round on one leg!"
> 
> "I do?" Guilmon tilted his head in confusion. Terriermon felt like today was going to be an interesting day.


	9. Growlmon Roars Into Action

 

Even though they'd defeated their first rogue digimon together, the air between them was dejected and quiet. It should've been a happy moment, but all they could think about was the exchange between Rika and Renamon. Takato was especially bothered, seeming contemplative instead of talkative like he usually was. Terriermon was the only one talking after that exchange, and it was to question Henry, "Why didn't you swipe the card Henry? It would've helped me out back there!"

"I...couldn't," he apologized, "I just...couldn't bring myself to do it."

That answer was hardly satisfying to Terriermon, who grunted his response disapprovingly, "Sorry wasn't going to stop IceDevimon from going after Rika - even if she was being mean. Unless you were trying to get her killed. Please tell me that wasn't the plan."

"No, of course not! I just didn't want to see you get hurt. Besides...we should probably hang on to this," Henry held up Rika's card pouch and belt - only for Takato to snatch it out of his hand. It was the first thing he'd done that was in character for him since the battle, aside from the fact that he'd been massaging the side of his head like he had a headache, "We should give this back to her."

"Why? She said she didn't want them any more," Terriermon pointed out. Takato stuffed the belt and the deck into his pocket, "Never trust anyone's decisions if they're made in a fit of anger - they may not mean it and they'll probably regret it later."

He stopped suddenly, taking the time to carefully massage both sides of his head. Juri raised up her sock puppet, "Is Takato alright?"

"Just a headache," he replied, although Guilmon sniffed him and provided his own opinion, "It doesn't smell like a headache to me. It smells funny."

"Gee, thanks," Takato groaned, leading the way again back to the park shed. Once the digimon were safely hidden away, Takato told them, "We're out of school tomorrow so we'll come back. Oh, and I have to feed the school animals tomorrow so you guys will get to see some new things. Just promise you won't eat the bunnies, Guilmon."

"What's a bunnies?" Guilmon asked innocently enough. Neither Henry nor Juri could deny how amusing it was to see Takato mime a rabbit with his hands on his head for ears, "They're these cute little animals with big ears that bounce around all over the place. They're really cute."

"Is Terriermon a bunnies?" Guilmon asked, turning to sniff the little digimon curiously and somehow oblivious to the little digimon's protests, "Hey! Stop, that tickles!"

Takato sighed, "No, Terriermon's not a bunny. For starters, he probably eats more than a whole pack of them. Although he does kinda look like one. Y'know, I never thought about it but a terrier is a dog and you look more like a bunny."

It was hard to miss the look of existential crisis on Terriermon's face as he looked down at his own hands. Juri felt a little sorry for him because of it until his ears perked up, "Moumantai!"

Takato laughed, "Anyway, we'll see you guys tomorrow. If no more digimon show up that is."

"Night night," Guilmon answered with a tired yawn before crawling over to his hole to take a nap. Terriermon joined the dino digimon and flopped atop his large body, "Nap time sounds good."

All three kids smiled at the sleeping digimon before heading home.

* * *

Rika was plagued by horrible nightmare's that night, tossing and turning in her sleep as terrible images came to mind. Images of more digimon coming to visit her, and not all of them wanting to be her partner. Some wanted revenge, enraged that they had been passed over so that Renamon could be chosen for a partner instead. As the digimon attacked her, she was visited by Renamon - but the fox refused to do anything to help her. Instead, she merely watched as Rika was eventually over run by the digimon. They pushed her to the ground, each one taking a separate limb before they started pulling. Harder and harder until she could feel her bones popping out of their sockets - until her legs and arms were ripped apart.

She jumped awake in a cold sweat, looking around her empty room to make sure there was no one else present. It was just her, alone in the dark bedroom. But she'd thought that before, and it didn't stop IceDevimon from reaching through the darkness to take her away. How long until it happened again? What would she do without her partner to back her up?

She sighed and tried to push it out of her mind - lying back down and grabbing her CD players. Maybe some music would help her calm down. She couldn't tell which CD was inside because of the dark, but she was able to feel her way to getting her headphones on and pressing play. The song started and she could feel herself start to relax,

" _Wanna be the biggest dreamer,_

_I'll keep running straight on through!_

_Past yesterday, beyond today,_

_tomorrow dreams come true!_

_I dunno,_

_can't pretend I'm all that cool._

_Never was the best at anythin' in school._

_Life is slow and questions keep pilin',_

_on and on and on_

_Gotta know…_

_where do I belong?_

_Tried to figure out it all,_

_then I slipped and tripped to fall!_

_I know I heard laughter!_

She didn't remember owning this CD, but the song was helping her forget the nightmare. Whether it was because she was confused by the song or annoyed by it, she didn't care. Her eyes felt heavy.

* * *

Guilmon and Terriermon lay sleeping in their shed, and would've slept for several hours more if they hadn't been awoken by someone whipping the lock door open. Both digimon were startled awake as little Calumon hurried in with his big eyes and large ears, "Hey guys! Hey guys! Why are you sleeping? Don't you know it's time to play?"

Both sleepy digimon looked at Calumon groggily, however Terriermon was the first one to grasp what'd happened, "Calumon? What are you doing here this early?"

"It's time to play! It's time to play! It's time to play!" the little digimon repeated in a little sing song tone. Terriermon answered his joy with a tired yawn before crawling back into his bed, "I'm sure it is. I'm going back to bed."

"I want to play," Guilmon cheered, rising out of his hole energetically, "What are we playing?"

"I saw a bunch of humans at this one place playing a fun game with a ball and lines!" the little digimon said excitedly, "Come and play! Come and play! Come and play!"

"Okay!" Guilmon said. Terriermon groaned, too awake to go back to sleep, "Fine, let's play this dumb game. Where are we going, anyway?"

"It's this way!" Calumon said, hopping out of the shed as fast as his little legs would carry him. Both Guilmon and Calumon followed the little digimon out into the dark forest, down the empty streets, and all the way to an empty building. One Terriermon recognized right away, "I know this place! It's a school! Henry comes here all the time!"

"I know this place too! I came here looking for Takatomon that one time. It still smells funny," Guilmon added enthusiastically. They made their way towards the school gate to find that it was locked shut. The young dinosaur's heart sank at the sight of it, "How do we get it open?"

Calumon produced an answer by picking a stone off the ground, "With a little gentle persuasion! Take this!"

For such a small digimon, he displayed an awfully dangerous amount of strength by smashing the rock as hard as he could against the lock until it shattered off the gate. Both Guilmon and Terriermon had to applaud the little digimon for that. Both digimon were alarmed by how strong the little guy was - and were just as dumbstruck as he swung the gate open for them. Neither would've guessed he had it in him, "See, just a little friendly persuasion! This way! I know where they keep the balls and white stuff!"

"Wait, what?" Terriermon sputtered out, following along just behind Guilmon. The little dinosaur was just as clueless and asked, "What are those? Can we eat them?"

"I mean…some people do," Terriermon replied, not sure if his mind was in the gutter or if Calumon was taking him where he thought they were going. Calumon ran along happily, leading them along the grounds and past the soccer field which had been cleared for the afternoon. To their amazement, he ended up leading them to a shed in the far corner of the field. Like the gate, it was also locked shut but all it took was some more of Calumon's gentle persuasion to break the lock off that.

The little digimon disappeared inside the mess of gardening tools, returning with what looked like a wheel barrow with holes full of white powder and a soccer ball on his head. He dropped the ball and said, "First we got to spread this white stuff all over the ground - it's so the players can tell if they're out of bounds and where the sides are and-"

"Oh, I know this," Terriermon said, "I watched it from the classroom."

"Well we're going to do it a little different," Calumon said excitedly, running ahead of both digimon. Guilmon hung on to every word that Calumon said, but Terriermon couldn't help but notice the discrepancies. He also found it hard to miss the rules Calumon made up, "So if you cross this line, you have to spend the rest of the game hopping on one leg. And if you shoot past this line, you can only hit the ball with your head for the rest of this game. And if you cross this line, a mean old digimon shows up and tries to attack you! And you have to hop inside this line-"

On and on it went. Terriermon considered pointing out that those weren't the rules, but also decided that he didn't want to be like his partner when it came to this type of thing. He smiled and decided to run with it, especially when Calumon mentioned the rule about having to walk on your hands if the game went to double over time - if that were possible. At least he'd have the advantage if he were Gargomon. Once the lines were set up, Terriermon kicked the ball into the middle and invited Terriermon to his side, "Since we're so small, we should be on the same team and Guilmon can be on the others team, because he's so big."

"So when do we eat the ball?" Guilmon asked. Calumon tilted his head, "You don't eat the ball silly!"

Guilmon appeared disappointed but he quickly forgot as Calumon kicked the ball first. Terriermon sighed and went for it - jumping in front of the ball and kicking it toward the goal. Guilmon dove in front of it just before it crossed the goal, catching it in his mouth and promptly spitting it out towards the goal, "Blegh, that tastes like dirt."

"It's been rolling on the ground," Terriermon laughed, "Guilmon ate dirt!"

"Guilmon! You're not supposed to eat the ball silly," Calumon giggled excitedly, pointing out the goal he'd just scored, "That's one point for us by the way which means you have to play the next round on one leg!"

"I do?" Guilmon tilted his head in confusion. Terriermon felt like today was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

The next morning, Henry made his way to the shed - glad to finally get away from his family for a little while. His dad really tore into him for his recent behavior - stealing dolls from girls and coming home late, only to leave again. His mom made the case that he was just going through a phase but he was pretty sure his dad was just waiting to give him the birds and bees talk. The thought of his dad trying to explain that stuff any better than the health ed teacher made him shiver.

As he turned into the park, he bumped into a frantic Takato with Juri just a few steps behind him. Takato fell over backwards and massaged his butt, "Ow, ow, ow."

"What's the rush?" Henry asked him. Takato looked up, face in a full panic as he explained, "It's Guilmon and Terriermon! They're gone! I don't know where either of them are! The gate was open and we're following their tracks!"

Henry looked down and noticed a set of dirty foot prints in the shape of claws on the ground - undoubtedly from Guilmon. He sighed, annoyed that two nights in was all it took to get Terriermon to wander off, "Come on, Terriermon."

"We need to get after them before they get into trouble!" Takato exclaimed, scrambling back on to his feet and following the tracks. Henry sighed and looked at Juri, "He's awfully excitable in the morning."

"You should see him try to sneak into class," she answered, "He's always caught but that doesn't stop him from arguing with the teacher anyway."

"I don't doubt it," Henry pocketed his hands and followed after Takato. He was just as worried too, but he doubt they would've let themselves be caught so easily. At least, that's what he wanted to believe and Terriermon seemed all to eager to prove him wrong. They followed the tracks all the way back to the school, where the gate had been broken into and the shed where gym supplies were was thrown wide open. The cherry on top of the vandalism to their school was the mess of scribbled chalk on the field that zigged zagged all over the place. And Guilmon slept on his back in the middle of the field, with Terriermon on his side and Calumon on his belly.

Takato breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh good, they're alright."

"Guilmon certainly takes after you," Henry chortled, patting the boy's back, "I guess the digimon doesn't fall too far from the tamer, huh?"

"I didn't tell him to do this!" Takato reasoned. He chastised him, "No, but you did tell him to break a lock into that apartment. I betcha he got the wrong idea."

"Whatever," Takato groaned, running up to their sleeping partners to shake them awake, "Wakey wakey guys! Come on, get up!"

All three digimon stirred slowly, with Guilmon sitting up before Calumon was ready so that the little digimon rolled off his side. The dinosaur yawned, "Oh, hi Takatomon. Do you have bread? I'm really hungry."

"You shouldn't have snuck out of the shed like that," Takato chastised the dinosaur with a warning finger like he was telling off a younger sibling, "You could've gotten into serious trouble."

"I'm sorry Takatomon," Guilmon made something like a frown and sat himself up. Then he motioned for the digimon to follow, "Come on, we have to feed the school animals. Then you can have your breakfast."

Takato helped his partner up, and Terriermon slowly walked his way over to Henry, "Hey Henry."

Henry had to stifle a laugh when he saw his partner rubbed his tired eyes and took one good look around the soccer field. There was no sense to any of it - and the soccerball appeared mangled. He had a good guess about what happened but thought he should get his partner's take on it anyway, "So what did you guys do all night?"

"Moumantai," Terriermon perked up suddenly, his ears flopping out as large as they could. Henry sighed, unsure of what else he'd been expecting from his partner. The little digimon then followed after Takato and Guilmon, "Where are we going anyway?"

"Oh, the animal pen is in the back of the school by the kitchen," Henry explained to his partner, who cracked a yawn and looked at Juri, "Oh, hello. What're you doing here?"

Juri opened her mouth but didn't say anything. Henry wasn't sure whether she was shy or uncomfortable talking to Terriermon yet so he tapped his partner on the head, "Be nice, Terriermon. Come on, let's go see the bunnies."

"Bunnies! I like bunnies!" Calumon appeared excitedly, waddling up along side them cheerfully, "What's a bunny!?"

Perhaps she'd finally found her nerve because Juri picked the little digimon up and smiled, "Come on, let's go see!"

Calumon didn't see it that way and panicked, "AH! THE HUMANS GOING TO EAT ME!"

"I'm not going to eat you," Juri said in her defense, patting the little digimon on the head to try and calm him down. Calumon didn't appear to buy it and leapt out of her arms, sprinting off as fast as his little legs could carry him towards the back of the school. Which ended up being surprisingly fast for how small he was. Oddly enough, he ran straight towards Takato and Guilmon at the pen in the back of the school.

Guilmon was busy sniffing at the different animals in their cages - bunnies, ducks, chickens, geese, and hamsters. Takato was busy going in and out of the different pens, carrying buckets in each arm that he busily filled with vegetables, seeds, and other food he pulled out of feed bags for the different animals. Immediately, Calumon forgot he was running scared from Juri and went to marvel at the bunnies. Terriermon looked at Henry expectantly, as if he had to ask for permission and Henry said, "We both know you're going to run off anyway. Go ahead buddy."

"Thanks Henry," Terriermon ran ahead to join the two digimon. Calumon awed at the little creature, "So these are the bunnies? They're so cute! Aw! Hey! That tickles!"

He bounced away as one of the bunnies came to smell him. The adorableness of the sight was ruined by as Guilmon asking, "Are they food?"

Henry, Juri, and Takato all stopped - looking between each other because none of them wanted to answer that question. If anything, it would've been Takato who answered the question absent mindedly, but he seemed to have enough sense to realize telling his partner to eat the school animals would've been a bad idea. Instead, he tried to change the subject, "So what were you guys doing here?"

Guilmon looked up, "We were playing soccer! Calumon came up with a some rules to make the game more fun and we played until the sun came up. Then we took a nap, and you woke us up."

"So you only slept for an hour," Takato said, taking the empty buckets to fill them with water. As he went about his weekend chores, he suggested, "Hey, how about we play a round or two after you guys have something to eat?"

"Will we get to eat bread?" Guilmon asked excitedly. Takato shrugged, "Oh definitely, there's got to be something in the kitchen we can scavenge for you guys."

"From the school?" Terriermon asked wearily, looking at Juri and Henry for some sort of rescue from having to eat the food. It wasn't hard to see why, since they weren't fans of the food either. Calumon rubbed his little belly and asked, "Do they have candy? I love candy! It's the best."

"Is that the best thing for them to eat? They could get sick and throw it all up," Juri pointed out for Terriermon, unsure of what that would do to the digimon. Takato thumbed over at Guilmon, "I've watched him eat so much that he puked it back up, only to eat it again. I think Guilmon can handle it."

"The more time passes, the more I realize you only treat him like a dog because he basically is a dog," Henry frowned, waiting for Takato to finish filling the water bowls for the different animals, "Besides, I'm Terriermon and Calumon aren't up for just anything."

"Yeah, you're right," Takato replied. Once he was done filling the water bowls, he clapped his hands together to get as much dust off as he could before washing it at the water faucet. Then it was off to the kitchen, "Don't worry, I'm not going to let them eat the leftover tuna casserole or the day old stuff. The last thing we need is for our digimon to get food poisoning with everything going on."

The kitchen was just as stocked as they thought it was, and they found several brownies hoarded in the refrigerator as well as cookies. Beside it was all the nasty food they were certain the lunch ladies had been serving for the last few years of their life. As quickly as they'd found it, their partners made it all disappear with a few quick and sickening bites that made any appetite they had disappear.

Henry felt his stomach churn at the way Guilmon ate, surprised that either Juri or Takato were able to handle it. Takato patted Guilmon's head as he took each bite while Juri awed at it. Henry tried not to be sickened but it was hard, especially when he'd tasted some of that food himself and knew it wasn't the best thing in the world. As they ate, he noticed Takato still had Rika's belt hanging loosely out of his pocket, along with the deck of cards that came with it. He pointed it out, "Still haven't talked to Rika, yet?"

He frowned, "I thought I should wait a day for her to cook down first. I'm pretty sure she'd punch me in the face if I went to go see her right now. Or kick. It's really hard to tell what she'll do."

"I've never seen her around the school, is she a student here?" Henry asked. Juri shook her head, "I think she goes to a middle school and she's just a year ahead of us."

Both Henry and Takato were surprised to hear her say that and looked at her in surprise. She appeared startled by their appearance and asked, "What?"

"How do you know that?" Takato asked seriously, a question Henry wanted to know the answer to as well. She explained, "I noticed her uniform when we were at her place a few days ago. It's a middle school uniform - which means she's at least a year ahead of us. That or she goes to the weirdest elementary school ever."

Takato and Henry both swapped looks, certainly for different reasons. He knew Takato and Juri had been looking for him, but he didn't know they'd been to Rika's place too. Although it would explain why she'd been acting weird. Then Takato complimented Juri, "You've got a good eye, Juri."

"Oh...thanks," she looked away anxiously, causing Henry to raise a curious eye brow. These always seemed to be around each other but they weren't siblings. Or cousins as far as he could tell. Maybe they were together? Nah - that couldn't be. Although, it would explain why his parents were so convinced he was going through a phase. But he wondered if they were both trying to keep it secret. Then again, it wasn't his place to worry about. It'd be rude to pry into their business.

Once they were done eating, Guilmon let out a sickeningly loud burp that smelled horrible and everyone rushed out of the kitchen to escape the smell. After a few minutes of coughing and gagging from Guilmon's monster of a burp, Calumon asked, "Can we play our game now?"

Henry heaved between gasps for breath, "Yeah, sure. We all need some fresh air after that."

Guilmon burped innocently enough from within the kitchen.

* * *

Yamaki scrambled for the main deck again as Riley and Tally announced the appearance of two more wild ones on their monitors. As soon as he made his way in, he demanded, "Where are they bio-emerging?"

"One in a school in Shinjuku, the other in a mall in Yamato," Tally answered, "And whatever they are, they're big!"

"Dammit," Yamaki cursed under his breath. It was a Saturday so no one was in school today. Which meant the priority was the one in the mall. He hated having to make split decisions like this, "Okay - send the QRF to Yamato. Have an agent sent to Shinjuku to monitor that one. Then have the QRF divert there after they're done in Yamato. And Tally, get some cover stories ready!"

"Yes sir," Tally replied with a groan, obviously annoyed.

"On it, sir," Riley was more on point, maintaining the professional relationship they were supposed to have. She began alarming the QRF and setting their target orders for them.

* * *

It took Calumon the longest time to explain the rules of his game to them. It was nothing short of a miracle to Juri that Guilmon and Terriermon were able to keep up. However Takato and Henry were left scratching their heads at all the nonsensical rules they were told. Rules that ranged from crossing line making a mean digimon appear to attack you or having to hop on one leg, or shooting past a certain line meant having to spend the rest of the game hitting the ball with your head. It was so bad, her head was spinning trying to keep up. Takato especially was massaging the side of his head as he tried to follow along.

"And those are the rules to this extra special fun version of my game!" Calumon finished explaining his rules in time for Juri to breathe a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, I thought I was going to go insane trying to follow any more rules."

"I hear ya," Henry scratched his head, "So which line is the one we're not supposed to pass so we don't get attacked?"

"Come on guys, this is easy!" Calumon whined, running back over to the lines he'd just finished explaining, "First you can't cross this line or-"

"How about we play a round and you just tell us if we're breaking any rules?" Takato interrupted quickly to save them from having to sit through another terrible explanation from the little digimon. Surprisingly, the little digimon's mood seemed to improve upon the proposal, "OKAY! BOY THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN! HOORAY! FOR THIS ROUND, WE'RE GOING TO PLAY HUMANS VERSUS DIGIMON!"

"Sounds good to me, how about you Juri?" Takato asked her. She nodded to avoid hurting Calumon's feelings, "Sure. I'm not good at sports but this game sounds...fun."

"Might as well," Henry said, pocketing his hands and making his way to one side of the field with them, "So did anyone follow the rules 'cause I sure didn't?"

"I don't think anyone could," Takato shrugged as they made their way to the center. After a quick kick off, both sides scrambled to get the ball into the other team's net while trying to abide by Calumon's absurd rules. Even though they'd just played the night before, Guilmon and Terriermon were at just as much of a loss when it came to the rules as they were. In no time, they were all hopping on one leg, diving for the ball with their heads, and singing nursery rhymes backwards.

And it was as much fun as it was infuriating for everyone involved. The silliness of it outweighed the aggravation just enough for it to be enjoyable, especially when Guilmon bounced the ball with his head at Takato, who head butted it into their goal while sliding along the ground. Calumon called out, "Uh oh, you crossed the line! Now a mean old digimon attacks you!"

"Okay, but who's attacking me?" Takato asked as he dusted himself off, then shivered, "Did it get cold all of a sudden?"

"Cold? It's hot out!" Henry stopped, gasping for breath. Takato started stepping from side to side, then back and forth from the same spot, "Hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold."

"What are you doing Takato?" Juri asked, only to jump when Guilmon started growling. Takato dug his heel into the ground and drew a circle around where he was standing, "Just marking the cold spot. It's the weirdest thing."

"Hey, you have to stay on one leg!" Calumon pointed out, not expecting to be drowned out by both Takato and Henry's digivices ringing to life at the same time. Both boys stepped away as a fog began to appear over the circle Takato marked on the ground, and Takato groaned, "Wait, was that rule serious? A digimon will actually come out and attack us!?"

"Actually, it's just going to attack you," Terriermon pointed out, leaving Takato exasperatedly running backwards from the growing fog, "That's some rule and I don't want to die!"

It was the first time she'd stood so close to the fog, and it burned her eyes to be beside it. She closed her eyes and stepped back, cracking her eyes open just enough to follow the others as they retreated away. She noticed Takato fix his goggles over his eyes and turn to face the fog.

"Takato, what are you doing?" Juri gasped, still retreating away from the fog. She stopped just beside Henry at the edge of the fog as he examined his digivice, "It's Devidramon!"

"AGAIN?" Takato asked, a look of frustration drawn upon his face. He stared back into the fog to see a long black claw come out of the darkness. Then another claw, until they were in the midst of the demonic dragon again. Guilmon and Terriermon ran straight for it while Calumon retreated back towards Juri. She picked the little guy up, and stepped away from the monster. Then she felt her heart sink as she watched Takato raise his arms up to signal everyone not to fight before walking towards the creature, "Hang on. Nobody fight! Maybe we can talk to him. "

"Good luck! He's here for you!" Henry called out to him. That didn't stop Takato from continuing over to the digimon, "Devidramon! Why are you back? Go back to the-"

It answered him with a defiantly loud roar and Takato scrambled back. Terriermon and Guilmon squared off against the creature to cover Takato's retreat with Terriermon remarking, "So much for talking to him."

Devidramon turned his attention to the two little digimon in front of him. Terriermon panicked, "Uh, Henry - I don't think he's interested in Takato! We might not be able to sit this one out."

"R-right," Henry took a moment to compose himself before reaching for his deck of cards. Juri watched Takato do the same, retrieving a deck from his other pocket, "Let's end this quickly - don't kill him just...make him stop fighting! And if you can figure out how to digivolve again Henry, that'd be great."

"I don't even know how we did it the first time!" Henry complained. Both boys were shuffling through their decks furiously, looking for the correct power-ups to help in this fight. After a few seconds of searching, they found exactly the card's they needed. Both boys swapped glances once with each other before swiping their cards together, "DigiModify!"

"Excalibur Activate!" Takato cried.

"Strength Boost Activate!" Henry shouted.

A gauntlet with a glowing purple sword appeared on Guilmon's right arm and the digimon ran forwards while Terriermon started firing away, "Bunny Blast!"

Despite the added strength from Henry's card, Terriermon's attack bounced off the giant digimon and burst in the air like the bubbles they were. This left Guilmon running into the fight alone with the holy sword. As he was about to take his first swing, Devidramon swatted him away and advanced towards the humans. Juri picked up Calumon and retreated further back, only looking over her shoulder once to see Guilmon running at Devidramon again. Once again he was swatted aside, and Terriermon's bubble attacks did nothing to even the odds. Juri gasped, "Are they going to be alright?"

Then Guilmon was thrown into the side of the building by Devidramon. Takato screamed in a panic, "Guilmon! Guilmon are you okay!? Say something buddy! Please!"

Juri knew that feeling - that fear that someone was hurt and there was nothing that could be done. She should've known there was nothing she could've done, why did she even come here? She couldn't help them. This was beyond her. What...what could she do? She noticed Calumon shivering with fear in her arms and tried to hug the digimon to comfort him, and was blinded by a bright light for her efforts.

For a moment, it seemed like the light was coming from the mark on Calumon's head, and she dropped the digimon on the ground from surprise. She may have been blinded but that didn't mean she couldn't hear Guilmon triumphantly shout, "Guilmon! Digivolve to! Growlmon!"

When she regained her vision, she saw a digimon almost as large as Devidramon where Guilmon had been moments before. It looked like Guilmon too but larger, with white hair coming from his head and razor sharp blades protruding from his elbows. The large digimon roared out, cowing Devidramon before charging forward to slam the digimon into the ground. Devidramon held Growlmon up with one hand, trying to keep the digimon from attacking at point blank range with his attack.

Seeing what was about to happen, Takato ran forward trying to signal at the two digimon, "Growlmon! Don't kill him! Devidramon! Listen to me! We can help you! But please! Stop fighting us!"

Devidramon answered by slamming his fist into the ground and attempting to strike Takato, who just barely managed to side step it. Takato grunted, fiddling with his digivice, "Come on, come on. How did this thing do it before? Was it this? No. Maybe it was this? What was it? Gragh!"

"Whatever you're going to do, do it quick!" Henry shouted, "Growlmon can't pin him down forever!"

Takato looked up, obviously alarmed by what he'd said - it almost seemed like he hadn't considered Growlmon being unable to hold the digimon forever. And as he looked at all of them, his eyes stopped on Juri. She felt herself freeze, wondering what exactly was going through his head to cause such a pained expression. Then Takato clicked his tongue, "I'm sorry. Growlmon! Do what you have to!"

He sounded so defeated when he said it, as if he didn't want to say that. And he seemed more pained as Growlmon opened his mouth to spew out a bright red light, "Pyro Blaster!"

The attack struck Devidramon in the face, burning the digimon's head until the rest of it's body went limp and it turned into float cloud of glowing dust. And the dust gathered around Growlmon, condensing into a bright light that swallowed into Growlmon's body. The digimon roared triumphantly, signaling the end of the fight - but no one was cheering the win.

They were just glad it was over. And once Juri had a chance to calm down, she realized Calumon was gone. Maybe he'd run off in a panic? She looked around frantically, "Where's Calumon? He was here a second ago."

Her question was drowned out by Henry, "Okay, what's up Takato? Why do you keep trying to talk to the digimon that are trying to kill us?"

"I just…don't want any one to get hurt - that's all," Takato answered meekly, still obviously shaken by the fact that Growlmon ended the fight with Devidramon so quickly. He seemed to snap out of it though, long enough to state, "But now there's another problem."

They followed his finger as he pointed out Growlmon standing in front of them. The digimon had stopped in front of Takato and started sniffing the boy, "Takatomon, I'm hungry."

"I think I see what you mean," Henry scratched his head. Juri was at a loss though, and had no idea what either of them were talking about, "What do you mean? Devidramon's gone, right? What could be the problem?"

Terriermon ran up to the big digimon to pat his snout, "The problem is how do we get Growlmon back down to size? He stands out like a big red sore thumb!"

Juri looked up at the big digimon towering over them - he did stand out with his bright red skin and he was basically tall enough to look into the second story of the school building. And unlike Terriermon, he couldn't just pretend to be a doll. And there wasn't a box big enough to hide him. So how were they going to hide him.

* * *

The Hypnos Agent stepped out of his car, massaging his eyes to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. A giant red dinosaur, in the middle of the school, surrounded by three kids who looked like they were talking to it. He picked up his radio to communicate it back to command, "Uh, command. I think we have a situation at site Bravo."

"Copy that, what's your status?" came Tally's voice over the radio. He looked up again at the site to make sure he wasn't hallucinating it before calling it in, "There's a wild one here, no doubt about that. And...there are kids. They're talking to it."

There was a pause on the radio before Tally replied, "Hang on. I'll notify Yamaki."

The agent shuddered. Usually, if anything went straight to Yamaki, it ended with him yelling at someone. He braced himself for that, still watching the monster from a distance as the kids started trying to move the creature. One of them, a boy, ran into a tool shed in the school and came out with a bucket of green paint and several rollers. Then...the strangest thing happened. They started painting the creature and it seemed to be all for it, raising his arms and turning for the kids as they painted every inch of his body.

Finally Yamaki came on the radio, "Say again agent. What exactly is going on?"

"Sir, they've gone from talking to it, to painting it green," the agent said into the radio, "Should I...move in?"

"Negative," Yamaki said, "Continue to monitor it but don't get too close. Keep it in site and wait for the QRF."

"Copy," the agent said. He placed the radio down and continued to watch from across the street. It was a good thing no one was in school today or this would've been a PR disaster for the program. Then he heard a soft click behind him, followed by the press of cold metal against his head. He raised his hands, and a woman's voice spoke, "Don't turn around. I'm not going to kill you but you're going to follow my instruction. Is that clear?"

"Burnt Leaf?" he asked, only to be answered when the steel pressed harder against his head. He nodded and the woman instructed, "Pick up the radio, call your command and tell them the monster just disappeared."

Not wanting to press his luck, he picked up the radio, "Ugh...Tally. We have a situation."

"Go ahead," she answered on the radio. The woman behind him added, "Make it convincing."

He took a deep breath to steady his nerves, "The wild one just...disappeared."

"Say again?" Tally asked. The agent added, "I don't know...it was there one second and gone the next. It was like...I don't know...maybe it went back?"

The gun pressed harder against the back of his head, and he worried he might've screwed this up. Then Tally asked, "Confirm it, agent."

The agent answered, "It's gone. I don't know how to confirm that it...disappeared into thin air."

There was a long silence on the radio, then she said, "Stand By. The QRF just finished at Site Alpha and is on the way."

"Affirmative. Standing by," he answered. He heard the woman click her tongue behind him and she said, "Well that's bad news for me. And bad news for you."

He felt something hard hit the back of his head, then fell into darkness.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes: Trouble is coming for Takato, Henry, Growlmon, Juri, and Terriermon! Will they be okay from the government agents? What'll happen when they meet? Will they narrowly escape the agents? What about Rika? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in two weeks on Friday March 29th at 8 PM CST. If you loved it, let me know in the comments section and I'll try to respond as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not kudos or follow the story to keep up with all the latest updates? That's all I have for now! I'll see you guys in the next installment! Now let's take a look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> Annoyed, she went to swat the deck away only to find it thrust into her hand. She was perplexed, taken aback by how quickly and smoothly his hand had moved to accomplish the feat. And it only angered her into dropping it on the ground. In turn, Takato scooped all the cards back up and neatly reassembled the deck. Then he offered it to her again. She raised an eyebrow, "What's your deal?"
> 
> "I'm trying to keep you from making a dumb decision," he explained. Rika's eyes narrowed, "Don't tell me I'm making a dumb decision, goggle head. I'm making a smart decision, because this is dumb. All of this: the digimon, digivolution. All of it. I don't want anything to do with this."
> 
> "Then why'd you come back?" Takato asked with that stupid smile of his.
> 
> Rika paused at the question, certain that the goggle head was about to make some kind of dumb point, "You could've gone anywhere today. Tokyo's a big city. But you came here. Why?"


	10. Kyubimon

Yamato "Matt" Ishida and Private Detective Ken Ichijouji stepped out of their car in front of an old apartment building. The building was in one of the poorer area and it showed with the graffiti and the broken windows on the first floor of the building. Normally neither would come near this place but they had no choice in this matter. Matt looked over at Ken and asked, "Are you sure this is the place?"

"My lead says there's a unit in his name up on the fourth floor," Ken pointed up at the upper floors. Matt wasn't so sure - this place was way below anything he could afford. He knew his little brother had his hideaways but he never figured they'd be in such a…disreputable part of the city.

They made their way up to the apartment number under Takeru's name and knocked. As soon as fist hit wood, the door creaked open just a little. Just like all the other places they'd gone, the door was not only unlocked but slightly open. Matt moved Ken behind him, and carefully pushed the door open just a little more to see a thin string running at about ankle height. His little brother had really gone out of his way to trap his hideouts. And like always, the trap was armed. Matt sighed, recalling his experience in the SDF to carefully disarm the trip wire and make sure neither of them died in some violent explosion. Once the trap was disarmed, he pushed the door open and saw a shotgun rigged to fire facing towards the door.

It was just like all the others. Something or someone must've really spooked Takeru for him to take these steps. Just like all the other places, all he found was an empty apartment littered with newspaper clippings, photos scattered everywhere, and notes littered around the floor. He frowned, "What happened to you little brother?"

A quick walk around the apartment led him into a bedroom that looked like it had been ransacked. Ken went to check the kitchen while Matt made his way to the bedroom, sure that he'd be disheartened by the lack of any good for the first time in a long time, he felt a spark of hope in his chest. Sitting in the corner of the floor of the bedroom was a laptop plugged into a wall. It was on log-in screen, illuminating the darkened apartment as it awaited password entry.

"I found something," Matt shouted, picking up the laptop. It was at full power, but how long had it been here? Ken came into the room and noticed it too, "A laptop? Pay dirt. If we can get in, we might find more leads on Takeru. Any idea what his password is?"

Matt mulled it over for a moment and began to type in the first thing he could think of, "Maybe his birthday?"

_PASSWORD INCORRECT: THREE MORE TRIES REMAIN_

"Damn," he cursed quietly. It was a silly guess, but it was worth a shot. Ken sighed, "Takeru doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd use his birthday. And it looks like he set up this laptop to either lock up or wipe itself if we guess wrong too many times. Any other ideas?"

"No," Matt frowned, closing the laptop and unplugged the charger from the wall, "Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

His mind raced with ideas as they made their way back downstairs. What would the password be? The name of his digimon partner, Patamon? The names of their parents? Their parents' wedding anniversary? Their divorce date? All of these ideas ran through his mind but they were all guesses in the end. And he only got three more chances. Whatever caused Takeru to booby trap the door, whatever caused him to just vanish...had Matt worried. Worried for his little brother. Worried for himself. Because what if whatever made his brother disappear also came after him? Or Ken? Or Sora?

* * *

_"Rika? Rika! RIKA! Find me Rika! Find me!"_

"Ryo?" Rika mumbled as she opened her eyes. That was his voice wasn't it? Damn. Why was she thinking about him? She hadn't seen him in years? Why did he have to run through her mind so often? She rolled her way out of bed, taking a moment to let her eyes adjust to the light streaming in. It was late, going by now low the sun was. Had she really slept all day? She cracked a tired yawn and forced herself up, trying to forget about that stupid dream she had.

What was with that dream anyway? Why was she dreaming about him? She needed to blow off steam. After a quick shower, she grabbed her CD player and headphones, intending to take a long walk to clear her head. It was just as well too since her mom had that designer friend of hers over and a couple of other people she didn't know. They were all talking about a laptop, something about finding someone else. Maybe it was another fashion model for her mom's friend's clothing line? The idea of it made her sick, because why would anyone want to waste their time with that?

* * *

It took a bit of work but they were finally able to cover Growlmon in the green paint they'd recovered from the shed. Unfortunately, all that changed was he went from a giant red dinosaur to a giant green dinosaur. For the plan to hide him to work, they'd have to sneak him back to the park without anyone noticing. They took a route back full of side streets and back alleys to avoid as many people as was possible. Then they ran into their next problem - Growlmon wasn't going to fit in the shed. That didn't stop Takato from trying to shove him in though.

"Suck in your stomach, Growlmon!" he called out while trying to push his partner in. Growlmon frowned, "I did! I'm not going to fit."

His head barely managed to fit through the gated door, but Takato still pushing the large digimon as hard as he could. After watching this for some time, Juri tapped Takato's shoulder, "I think you should stop. Growlmon sounds like he's hurt."

"I am hurt. My face is squished inside! Can I come out now?" Growlmon whimpered, looking like a dog with his head stuck in a bucket. Takato stepped away from the giant dinosaur, letting him poke his head out of the shed so that he could massage his sore neck, "I'm sorry Takatomon. I'm just too big."

"No, no," Takato sighed, massaging the back of his neck guiltily, "I'm sorry, buddy. But we can't just leave you out in the park. The green paint helps you blend in, but any one paying attention will figure you out right away. How do we hide a bright green dinosaur?"

"If he lies down, he can take a nap and pretend he's a bush. Or he can sleep in the playground and all the kids will think he's a new play set!" Terriermon suggested all too happily.

"Yeah. I'm going to give that a hard no," Henry said calmly, already envisioning a hundred little Xiaochuns climbing all over the sleeping digimon. He wouldn't wish that torture on anyone. Not to mention how many parents would freak out if Growlmon suddenly ran away in frustration around a bunch of kids. The police would get involved! Or worse. While they thought, Growlmon's stomach suddenly grumbled and he whimpered, "Takatomon, I have to go potty."

"Oh crap," Takato ran a hand through his hair anxiously. Terriermon's wars perked up, "Literally!"

Takato became frantic as his mind raced, "Didn't even think about that. How do we...wait, Growlmon! Stop! Don't! Not here!"

It was too late. Growlmon made his way to bush and squatted down. Everyone looked away in disgust as he did his business and left a large steaming pile just out of sight but close enough to smell. And it reeked worse than anything they could imagine. Anything he made as Guilmon paled compared to this, "Come on, Growlmon!"

"I'm sorry. I just really had to go," Growlmon whimpered, "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad, just...frustrated. There are weird people running around Growlmon, and we saw them take a digimon. I don't want them to take you, too!" Takato frowned, putting the idea into Henry that something could just as easily happen to Terriermon if his family ever found out. Or to Renamon and Calumon - they hadn't seen her since yesterday and Calumon had run off in the middle of the fighting. Maybe they'd be okay - Renamon was a fast moving digimon so there was no doubt she could keep herself out of trouble. Calumon was a different story - how did a digimon so small and naive manage to keep itself out of trouble?

* * *

" _So I stood up, brushed the dirt away,_

_And dreamed it was a brighter day!_

_The chance I'm after came alive!_

_Big and bigger! Biggest dreamer!_

_Watch me race across the sky!_

_Hold your breath and soar with me!_

_Close your eyes and you can see it!_

_Flying farther, flying faster!_

_We can reach it if we try!_

_Tomorrow's now!_

_So take a bow!_

_And kiss your past good bye!"_

Rika shut off her CD player, still unsure where this CD had come from. She didn't own it. At least, she didn't think she did. She'd been mindlessly walking for about an hour and, before she knew it, she was across town at the park where those idiots had been hiding their digimon. Not that she cared. It wasn't her concern what they were doing with their partners - she didn't care about digimon anymore. That's what she told herself but it didn't explain why she continued walking down the pathway towards the shed in the back of the park. The further she walked, the more she realized something was off about the forest - the trees seemed to be moving. On top of that, there was a foul stench in the air.

And judging by the noise coming from the shed, she was pretty sure who the cause of the smell was. She'd barely even made it to the first step when she realized the weird tree she'd been seeing was a larger version of Guilmon painted green for some reason. She blinked in disbelief - that idiot goggle head had gotten his partner to digivolve too! That annoyed her to no end, until she reminded herself it wasn't her problem. She didn't care about stuff like that anymore. It wasn't her business.

"We need to clean this up so that no one comes looking around," Henry said, "Otherwise we're going to have a lot of trouble hiding you guys here."

"Unless we can find a new place for them to hide," Juri proposed excitedly. Terriermon laughed, "Maybe he can dig another hole and hide in there?"

"That'll just draw more attention," Takato groaned. Once Rika was at the top of the stairs, she found all five of them standing around bickering while a giant pile of what she really hoped was bad smelling dirt sat nearby. She took one look at them and asked, "What are you guys doing up here?"

All five of them took notice of her, seemingly alarmed. She took off her headphones in preparation for whatever story they were going to tell her. Of course, she expected the goggle head to talk first but it was Henry who asked, "I thought you were done with digimon?"

Rika scoffed, "I am. But between the noise and the smell, it was hard to ignore whatever was going on."

"Thanks for proving my point," Takato added, gesturing at Growlmon, "Y'see buddy. This is why you needed to hold it. Now we have to figure out where we can hide you until you dedigivolve."

Rika took one look at the giant dinosaur and then at the door into the shed, spread wide so that the frame was loose and the walls around it were chipped. It looked like Takato had tried to force the big oaf through the small door. As if that would work. She sighed at their helplessness, "If you're trying to figure out how to shove your partner into that tiny thing, it's never going to work."

"Yeah, I know," Takato answered, kicking the dirt and pocketing his hands as if he were trying to hide the fact that he obviously had tried to force the gate open. Juri asked, "Do you know another place we can try, Rika?"

She mumbled under her breath about how this really wasn't her problem, then gestured for them to follow, "Yeah, I do."

"Really?" Takato's head perked up. She wasn't about to wait for them to start praising her and was already walking back down the path, "Keep up idiots. I don't have all day."

"What do you have to do on a Saturday?" Terriermon asked, but she ignored the question. Although she wasn't going to admit it, she'd been to this park several times in the past and knew of a gated off maintenance tunnel that was used to get into another park on the other side of the ward. Because it was gated, no one would be able to just wander in and find the digimon. Plus, it was big enough to fit a truck - it could hide the big dinosaur easy. Not that she cared or anything.

And it was just down the pathway too. But it seemed none of them had ever known it was here. Everyone gasped in awe of the large structure, Takato gleefully shouting, "Rika, this is perfect! How did you know this was here?"

"You notice a lot of things when you try to ignore people goggle head," she answered grumpily, checking the gate to make sure it wasn't locked and swinging it wide open for them. Growlmon took one look into the giant tunnel, lit up only by orange light that went on forever and asked, "This is so much bigger and nicer. Why don't I live here?"

"Because the last thing you need to do is to dig a hole in a tunnel," Takato answered, "And be careful in there, okay buddy? You don't want to bring the entire city down on top of you."

"Can that happen?" Juri asked. Takato shrugged, "He dug a hole in cement as Guilmon. Who knows what he could dig through as Growlmon. Thanks for helping us out, Rika."

"Whatever goggle head," she put her headphones on and turned to leave. She'd just taken her first few steps when Takato grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, "Hey, Wait."

Annoyed, she took her headphones back out, "What?"

"You should have this back," he reached into the pocket of his hoodie and retrieved her pouch full of cards attached to a belt. She looked at it wearily, not expecting to ever see those dumb cards ever again. Then again, she did keep running into these idiots everywhere she went. Tokyo was a big place, did they all just hang out in the same four blocks?

Annoyed, she went to swat the deck away only to find it thrust into her hand. She was perplexed, taken aback by how quickly and smoothly his hand had moved to accomplish the feat. And it only angered her into dropping it on the ground. In turn, Takato scooped all the cards back up and neatly reassembled the deck. Then he offered it to her again. She raised an eyebrow, "What's your deal?"

"I'm trying to keep you from making a dumb decision," he explained cheerfully. Rika's eyes narrowed, "Don't tell me I'm making a dumb decision, goggle head. I'm making a smart decision, because _this_ is dumb. All of this: the digimon, digivolution. All of it. I don't want anything to do with this."

"Then why'd you come back?" Takato asked with a stupid smile.

Rika paused at the question, certain that the goggle head was about to make some kind of dumb point, "You could've gone anywhere today. Tokyo's a big city. But you came here. Why?"

"What do you care?" Rika asked, trying her hardest to ignore the fact that she'd been thinking the same thing. Then he added another question, "Also, why do you still have your digivice?"

Rika looked down to see the digivice still dangling off her belt loop. She was about to reach for it but Takato thrust the deck back into her face, "Take it, Rika. You don't want to give up on digimon, even though you say otherwise. Why else would you still have that?"

"I-" Rika paused, trying to calm the hundred thoughts rushing through her head. Why did she still have it? It hadn't gone off in a while - was Renamon okay? Did the goggle head have a point? Did she really want to still have stuff to do with digimon? She tried her best to rationalize each thought as it came into her head but couldn't. She needed to get out of this situation fast and there was only one way to do it. She snatched her belt out of his hands and fastened it, "Don't think this means I want anything else to do with digimon, goggle head. I just don't like creeps handling my stuff."

Takato chuckled nervously. That might've been the thing that did it for Rika. She stepped on Takato's foot as hard as he could to wipe the smile off his face and the boy leapt up on it, "OW! OW! What gives?"

"Now we're even," Rika said, before putting her head phones back in and turning to leave. Just as she started playing her music again, she heard Terriermon comment, "I think she likes you."

"If that's how she shows she likes someone, I'd hate to see how she shows disliking someone."

* * *

The QRF arrived to find their field agent unconscious on the ground. They were just about to report it in to command when a black Toyota rolled to a stop beside them - the company car as it were. Immediately, Yamaki stepped out of the driver's seat and asked, "What the hell is going on? Why are you all just standing around?"

The lead member answered, "Sir, we arrived to find the agent unconscious. We were securing the street and preparing to call this in."

"What happened?" Yamaki demanded, making his way to the unconscious agent. He was out cold, with a small puddle of drool forming under his chin as he lay there unconscious. He gestured at the team, "Pack it in. We're taking him back to base. I want to know what the hell happened as soon as he gets up."

"Yes, sir," the QRF members answered. In truth, they were only packing it in because it was still broad daylight and armed men in military uniforms hanging around outside a school would only cause a panic if they were seen. As the QRF filed back into their deployment van and departed, Yamaki noticed something on the sidewalk across the street. Small drops of green paint traveling down the road. It seemed impossible to miss once you noticed it, and he went on following it with every intention of discovering where it went. The agent reported they were painting the monster green. He wanted to know why.

* * *

Renamon leapt from one tree to another, then from lamp post to lamp post, occasionally even running along the roof tops. It seemed odd that in a city where digimon tended to appear so frequently, that she hadn't run into any today. Then again, she had wandered pretty far from where Rika's house was. Not that it was any of her concern - she and Rika were done with each other and that's how they liked it. Still, it would've been nice to get some exercise every now and again - testing her skill on some new enemies would definitely break up the monotony of running around all day looking for something to punch.

After a while, she stopped atop one of the rooftops and gazed down on the city below. There were so many humans just wandering around, going about their business without a care in the world. She envied that, being able to live a life where you didn't have to worry about being eaten by something bigger or getting crushed into oblivion by someone stronger. Then again, with the ever increasing number of digimon appearances in this world, it seemed like the mood was slowly shifting into one of quiet paranoia.

It was hard to ignore the increased police officers patrolling the streets, or the fact that many of them were armed with a secondary weapon now.

Then the smell came. The noxious smell of an annoying little imp who wouldn't leaver he, "Hey tuts. No human today?"

"What do you want, Impmon?"

"Just checkin' on ya. Us digimons gotta stick togetha in this world," Impmon said appearing beside her. Renamon turned to face him ,"I thought you said only the smart survive."

"I did. And the smart thing to do is to stick together," Impmon gestures out at the humans below, "Maybe you ain't notice from bein' round that human too much, but some of them humans is attackin' us! Little ol' digimon just mindin' theys own business when these guys in funny masks show up. You saw 'em get Dokugumon that one night. He ain't the first. They got a Minotarumon not long ago. You and me, we could be next."

Renamon eyed him suspiciously, "And what do I get out of us sticking together?"

Impmon scoffed, "We watch each other's backs, that's all."

Then another smell came. The smell of cold mist and the feeling of electricity that made hair stand on end. Another digimon was appearing, and it was appearing nearby. She scanned the horizon in search of it, running the length of the rooftop in search of it. Impmon noticed her leaving and asked, "Hey! Where's you going?"

"To become stronger," Renamon answered. If she hurried, she could beat the humans there and absorb the energy for herself.

The mist was growing in the distance, and she knew where her destination was. A small park just a few blocks away. And whatever was coming through was strong - at least a champion level in strength if she had to guess. Just the thought of it excited her. Without a word, she leapt off the roof onto a lamp post and took off - the chase began!

* * *

Rika found herself wandering all her familiar routes - all the card shops where she bought booster packs, comic book stores where she could leaf through the magazines to see what cards would be coming out in the new expansions, rule books, everything. All of this used to excite her but now...she just felt a desire to go back to when it was just that simple. When digimon were just pictures on a card with some numbers for stats. Now she knew they were real, and they were after her.

It scared her. So much so that she jumped the moment that her digivice started beeping. She tried to play it off and hurried on down the path, trying her best to ignore the beeping at first. But the longer she tried, the louder it seemed to get. Until people started giving her funny looks like they expected her to answer their phone. Eventually, she gave in and lifted it up to see the radar pointing her to a park she liked to frequent when she wanted some alone time.

Then another image showed up: A white bird with red accents and golden mask resembling a human face. Harpymon - a champion level digimon. She clicked her tongue and went on as if nothing happened, trying to ignore goggle head's words as they crept up back into her mind.

" _I'm trying to keep you from making a dumb decision."_

" _You could've gone anywhere today. Tokyo's a big city. But you came here."_

" _You don_ _'_ _t want to give up on digimon, even though you say otherwise. Why else would you still have that?_ _"_

She wanted to go be with her partner. Except she didn't. But Renamon could get hurt without her. And it wasn't her problem. So why did she care?

Annoyed, she looked at the digivice one more time to make sure her heading was the same and made her way forward towards the park while quietly hoping that she wouldn't need to be there.

* * *

Renamon arrived in time to see the wild digimon appear through the mist. Harpymon. It made something like a screech and turned its head in every direction, scouting for any danger. That was good. It hadn't sensed her yet. A few times, it stretched its wings and tried to fly but nothing happened. Obviously, it was still getting its bearings from just appearing in the Real World. Which gave Renamon exactly the advantage she wanted.

She moved quickly, hoping to get a good blow in before it could effectively put up a fight. One leap into the air was all it took for Renamon to get the drop on the harpy. It panicked, taken aback by the surprise attack and tried to shake her off. But no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't fully get her off its back. And Renamon used this to her advantage. At this close range, there was no way she could miss, "DIAMOND STORM!"

The diamonds appeared just behind her and pierced the digimon's side. It shrieked in agony, finally finding the strength to throw Renamon off her back and rise up into the air. Once airborne, the digimon turned its attention on Renamon. Renamon winced and started to move - it may have the flight advantage but that wouldn't account for much if she didn't give it an easy target. She darted for the trees, hoping the extra coverage would make her a harder target to hit for Harpymon. But the digimon responded in kind by flying through the trees, using her immense claws to slice the trees down as she flew past.

Renamon couldn't let up - she continued running. Right past the little Calumon staring up at her with big eyes, "Hey. What's up?"

"What are you doing here?" Renamon had just enough time to gasp out before she leapt at the digimon, scooping him up before a tree fell on him. Harpymon continued her pursuit just behind them, and Calumon asked, "What game are you guys playing? You're not fighting are you? Why is everyone I run into fighting today? I just want to play and have fun!"

Renamon had no time to figure out what he meant by that. They were being attacked by Harpymon! She didn't have time to protect this digimon and fight off Harpymon at the same time. One of them was going to have to give. And she had the sneaking suspicion that Calumon wasn't going to stay out of the way.

She needed to put him someplace safe. But where? With trees falling left and right, this place was more dangerous than if she'd simply leave him out in the open. At least there, a stray tree wouldn't land on him. She had to get out of this death trap.

"DIGIMODIFY! SPEED BOOST ACTIVATE!"

Immediately, Renamon felt her step get lighter and her leap take her farther, making it easier to leap out of the trees and slide to a stop in what appeared to be a basketball court. And standing there was Rika with her digivice in one hand and set of cards in the other. Immediately her eyes narrowed, "What are _you_ doing here?"

"You looked like you could use a hand," Rika answered quietly, trying to avoid making eye contact. Renamon clicked her tongue, "I've done fine without you."

"Obviously not," Rika said, shifting her eyes back into the forest where Harpymon roared out screaming for blood, "What's their deal?"

"None of your concern, Ruki," Renamon warned the digimon. She set Calumon down and said, "If you want to be helpful, keep this thing out of my way."

Calumon seemed disappointed that she was disinterested in him, his ears shrinking down so that they were the size of small nubs sticking out of his head. That wasn't her problem though. He wasn't even her concern. Her only concern now was defeating Harpymon before Harpymon got the better of her. And she would do it without Rika's help.

* * *

Yamaki followed the trail of paint all the way to a park, and then to an access tunnel entrance where a pair of boys, a girl, and a small white rabbit thing were talking to each other. They were so busy doing whatever they were doing that they didn't even notice he was there. Which gave him the chance he needed to put a hand on his gun. He didn't want to start shooting at kids needlessly; perhaps he could convince them to surrender the wild one.

"Hey," Yamaki said. Immediately, the two boys stepped in front of the digimon and the girl. The one wearing goggles stated, "Oh, uh, hi. Don't mind us. We're just…hanging out."

"With that abomination," Yamaki stated plainly, gesturing at the rabbit. He watched the kids' faces turn to surprise while the boy mouth an obscenity, "You should watch your mouth. Kids your age shouldn't curse."

"And I'm not an abomination!" the rabbit protested. Yamaki blinked in surprise. They talked. He knew some could but most of them just screamed and hissed. He figured any speech would be more guttural and less eloquent. He stepped towards them cautiously, "Look, you kids should surrender that thing over to me. It's dangerous and-"

"Hard pass," the boy with goggles interrupted, "No offense, but I think we've got a better handle on this than you do. Also, thing? He has a name and it's Terriermon."

"Moumantai," it added rather cheerfully. Yamaki sighed, certain that this was going to be a serious challenge, "I wasn't asking you. I was telling you. That…Terriermon…is dangerous and people who get involved with those things tend to die. Give it to me before it does the same to you."

"We are talking about the same digimon, right?" the boy looked over at his shoulder at the small critter. The kids looked amongst themselves worriedly and the girl gasped, "Is that a gun?"

"He won't use it," the goggle wearing boy pointed out, "If he wanted to hurt us, he'd have done it by now. I mean look, it's still in its holster."

"That's not very reassuring," the other boy added. Everyone except the goggle wearing kid took a step back. In fact, he kept talking as he approached Yamaki, "But he hasn't used it yet. In fact, he's just standing there talking to us. Which means we can reason with him. Isn't that right?"

"There won't be any reasoning because you're going to give me the thing. You have no idea what you're getting involved with," Yamaki assured him, "For your own safety, do the right thing."

"We are doing the right thing," he replied, "By the way, you look familiar? Have we met?"

Yamaki raised an eyebrow. He'd never seen this boy before, so how did the boy recognize him? In fact, he'd gone out of his way to maintain his anonymity in government. Then the boy snapped his fingers, "Oh, I know! You come to my family bakery! You're the guy who gets those day old bagels!"

"Those bagels were a day old?" Yamaki repeated before shaking his head, "No, never mind. What that means is I know where your family lives. So if you don't want anything to happen to them, you'll-"

"Do absolutely nothing," the boy interrupted them, "Because if you were really okay with hurting us, you would've just shot us when you were sneaking up on us. Heck, we wouldn't even be standing here having this conversation. But you're not going to. Either you're too much of a good guy to do it, or you don't want to escalate needlessly. Either way, I think the best thing would be for you to walk away."

Yamaki rolled his eyes, and fired his gun at the ground just in front of the boy's foot. The boy took a step back, apparently getting the message. The other boy with them groaned, "Hey, how about you _don't_ antagonize the guy pointing a gun at us?"

"He won't shoot," the first boy said adamantly. Yamaki fired again at the boy's feet, "Do you want to reassess that or do you want to keep talking? This is your last chance. Give me the monster before anyone else gets hurt."

The kids were frozen, apparently with shock. Maybe he'd gone too far in firing the gun. The little creature even seemed scared he'd be given up. The girl said, "Maybe we should."

The goggle wearing boy raised up his hand to signal her and stepped towards Yamaki. He raised his gun to scare the boy off but he just kept walking. And he only stopped when the gun was pressed against his forehead. That took Yamaki off guard. Did the boy want to die? Was he just insane? He warned, "I will pull this trigger."

He didn't expect the boy's answer, "So what are you waiting for? Because as long as I'm alive, I'm not going to give you Terriermon. Guys, get out of here."

"But-" the girl started, only for the boy to signal again, "I'll catch up. Go!"

The remaining kids looked at each other before running past them. Yamaki was about to turn and fire but stopped when he had the gun level on them. He could've stopped this. Shot the kids and ended it here. But he couldn't bring himself to squeeze the trigger. Then the goggle headed boy pointed out, "See what I mean? You couldn't do it. You didn't want to."

Yamaki clicked his tongue angrily. Who was this kid to psychoanalyze him? He pointed at the kid angrily and said, "Any thing that happens because you let that thing loose in this world is on you, do you understand?"

"I understand perfectly," the boy replied, hurrying off to join his friends.

"We'll see about that," Yamaki clicked his tongue and took to leave. He wasn't going to report this. The last thing he needed was his superiors breathing down on him for not letting three kids get away with a wild one. And though he didn't want to admit it, part of him wondered if he should've just done it - shot the kids, taken the digimon, and left.

* * *

Rika was miffed. She offered to help and Renamon had snubbed her. She was left to babysit the baby of a digimon who couldn't even defend itself. Then again, she had invited this on herself. She had been just as rude to Renamon. So, if anything, she deserved to be yelled at. But she wasn't going to sit idly while Renamon faced this monster of a digimon by herself. She called out, "I'm trying to help."

"Really? Because it looks like you let Calumon wander away!" Renamon spat back. Rika looked down to see the little digimon walking off and hurried to scoop him up, "You're not going anywhere! There! I'm protecting him. Now let me help!"

"I don't need you!" Renamon shouted, busy leaping around the park while Harpymon gave chase. Calumon whimpered and pleased, "You two shouldn't fight. You're friends, right?"

"Can it," Rika scolded Calumon. She didn't have time to deal with his whimpering and innocent comments. She called out to Renamon, "Look, I'm sorry, okay? Is that want you want to hear?"

"What I want to hear is you leaving!" Renamon snapped angrily. Okay, she deserved that. But she reached for digivice anyway, "Forget that, I'm helping. Get ready for an advantage! Digimodify! Angemon's Wings Activate!"

A set of angelic wings appeared on Renamon's back and she took to the air, ramming Harpymon so that both digimon spiraled downward as they fell. It seemed like Renamon had won until Harpymon spread her wings, "Wind Seeker!"

A blast of razors flew out of Harpymon's wings, tearing at Renamon so that she had to let go, "AARRRGGHH!"

She screamed in agony and fell to the ground, collapsing at the edge of the basketball court. Rika dropped Calumon, running to her partner's side, "Renamon! Renamon! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Stay out of this," she muttered, pushing herself back up but barely able to stand. Harpymon landed before the pair, hissing and snapping at them in anger for what Renamon had done. She wasn't going to leave Renamon though. They were partners. And she wasn't going to sit back and let her get hurt, Rika grabbed a broken branch she found lying on the ground and held it like a sword, "Back off freak! Renamon's my partner and I'm not letting you anywhere near her!"

"You idiot, Rika!" Renamon spat back at her, "That digimon will tear you apart! Get out of here before you hurt yourself!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Rika spat back bitterly. Harpymon roared triumphantly and stepped forward to attack, inviting Rika to charge forward with the stick, "I said back off! Leave her alone!"

She swung the branch with all her might and watched it snap in half as it struck the digimon across the chest. Before she could even think about backing away, Harpymon kicked her aside and threw her into a tree. She screamed as the pain ripped through her body, amazed that Renamon was able to take this kind of punishment and still keep standing. It was awful; she wasn't sure she'd even be able to stand after that attack. She massaged the spot where Harpymon hit her and looked up at the digimon as it roared at her.

Renamon was off the side, struggling to stand up on her feet while also reaching out to her. It seemed Renamon actually did care despite her bravado. Rika was glad to know, since she had been quietly worried about Renamon too. It just sucked that it was too late to show it now. She was pretty sure they were going to both die here. So stupid.

And of course, Calumon was off to the side watching the whole thing with a glazed over look. He didn't even look like he was focusing on her. He'd probably spaced out, the air head. Harpymon stepped over her and Rika was sure this was it. A bright light flashed from Calumon and Rika closed her eyes to keep from being blinded. BUt over it, she could hear Renamon cry out, "Renamon! Digivolve to! Kyubimon!"

Rika forced her eyes open and saw a yellow fox with nine burning tails ram Harpymon in the side, throwing the digimon to the ground, "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"Renamon?" Rika asked, shaking her head, "No, Kyubimon."

Kyubimon dug her claws into the ground, standing over Rika and growling at Harpymon, "If you go near her again, you're dead!"

Harpymon answered by hissing at her. Then she charged, without warning and with her wings spread out again. Renamon answered by whipping her tails at the bird digimon, letting the flames shoot forward with a great burst, "Fox Tail Inferno!"

The flames burned Harpymon alive and the digimon screamed out in agony, giving Kyubimon a sorely needed opening to ram the large digimon. While she did, Kyubimon started spinning in place so that she became engulfed in flame, "Dragon Wheel!"

The digimon had just enough time to scream out before disappearing into a cloud of data. Data that Kyubimon quickly absorbed. Once she finished, she turned to Rika, "Are you okay?"

Rika lay on the ground, still holding where she'd been hit and replied, "I'm fine. You digivolved."

"Yes, I did," Kyubimon nodded, stepping towards her, "You're hurt."

"It's nothing," Rika said, using the tree behind her to support herself as she stood back up. Her gut was killing her and she staggered for a moment but Kyubimon used her snout to help her along, "Why'd you do it, Rika?"

"Because…we're partners," Rika answered meekly. She wasn't very good at this sort of thing and it was hard to say what she was feeling, "About before. I shouldn't have..."

She paused. All this mushy stuff wasn't her. She hated it. She sighed, "Look, I'm not good at this kind of stuff. What I'm trying to say is I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Kyubimon shook her head, taking the girl off guard, "I wanted to prove I could be strong. In the end though, I needed you to digivolve. We needed each other. Partners?"

"Partners," Rika answered, leaning on the digimon to support herself but also trying to give something like an awkward hug. The digimon stooped down, "Home is a long way for you. Climb on and I'll take you there."

"Thanks, Kyubimon," Rika pulled away from the hug, gritting her teeth as she climbed on to the digimon. Then they were off to home.

* * *

Impmon watched from a tree branch above as Kyubimon rode away with her human. He felt the littlest tinge of anger at it. So she'd gone back to the human. Of course she did. He scoffed and turned to leave. Seeing it made him sick to his stomach and he needed to find a place to throw up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rika and Renamon are back together again! But what happened to Calumon? What will happen because of Takato and Yamaki's meeting? And can Matt and Ken find TK? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next week on Friday April 5th at 8 PM CDT. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section and I'll try to respond as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not follow or favorite the story to keep up with all the latest updates? That's all I have for now! I'll see you guys in the next installment! Now let's take a look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> Kazu and Kenta both freaked out at the sight, barely able to hide the concern in their voices, "What are you doing Takato?"
> 
> "Yeah, what is that?"
> 
> "I don't-" he paused again, "My head-"
> 
> He pressed his hands against his head, massaging his temples, "-hurts. There's something...digital field...outside."
> 
> He hurriedly stumbled his way out of the shed, trying to keep himself from falling over as he pushed the iron barred door open to the park. Juri followed him outside, once again certain that he was running off into certain danger without a thought for his own safety when she noticed an unseasonably strong wind. Then there was a faint glimmer of light in the distance, coming from the top of the nearby metropolitan building.


	11. Test Fire

Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon stood guard over the buried remains of the chasm that WarGreymon sacrificed himself to bury. Despite dropping part of the Digital World on top of himself and the...thing, the ground was beginning to crack with the same endeavor it had once before. And worse, they could sense _it_ beginning to come through. It didn't take long for one of their servants to come investigate the disturbance for themselves and see what held their attention. Mihiramon, the winged tiger, looked upon them and the broken ground. He sensed what they had but hadn't seen what they'd witnessed, "My lord sovereigns. What is that?"

"We don't know," Zhuqiaomon replied, "But whatever it is...it is unstoppable."

"Should I fetch WarGreymon?" Mihiramon asked. Both sovereigns were unable to answer, unsure how to explain what happened without scaring the digimon. But all they managed to do was unnerve their servant more than if they'd just told him, "My lords?"

"WarGreymon fell to the abomination," Zhuqiaomon answered, "Perhaps one of the greatest warriors of our world, sacrificed himself to buy us time and to help us escape."

Mihiramon stumbled for a moment, shaken by the news and barely containing the frantic fear in his voice, "Then what do we do?"

Azulongmon was unsure of what to say, looking to Zhuqiaomon and seeing the rage in his eyes. He wasn't sure what the digimon was thinking but knew he could be brash when angry. With a low growl, Zhuqiaomon answered, "In our panic, we may have erred in judgment. WarGreymon asked us to protect the Catalyst and keep it away from this thing. But it seems we need it now more than ever if we're going to have a chance to stop it."

Mihiramon bowed, "Whatever you ask of me, I will do, my lords."

Azulongmon looked at Zhuqiaomon in disbelief. He wasn't about to ask what he thought he was going to. Was he? These were desperate times, sure. But this desperate? They had to have other options. That's what he wanted to think but nothing came to mind.

"Assemble the others and prepare a search party. We need to go to the human world and reclaim the Catalyst."

* * *

Growlmon slept on the cold hard floor of the maintenance tunnel like Takatomon asked. It wasn't as cozy as his little shed which he missed, but at least he could fit inside. He was also having a hard time getting comfortable, although he wasn't sure if it was because he'd suddenly expanded to several times his size or if the tunnel wasn't as cozy as his shed. All the discomfort made it easy for him to notice his surroundings better - the dim lights that illuminated the tunnel in the dark, the soft rustling of the leaves as the wind blew through them, and the faint echo of footsteps as something came his way. Growlmon wanted to turn his head and look but he was too large to do that in the tunnel without getting stuck. Maybe that was why he was so uncomfortable?

"What are you doin' ya big palooka?" a small voice said behind him. Growlmon tried to turn his head but couldn't quite make out who he was looking at. He was just too big to turn in the tunnel, "Who's there?"

He felt something small squeeze by him, making its way to the front, "I am. What is ya? Deaf? Blind? Or stupid?"

"Your name is watisya?" Growlmon asked as a curiously small, dark digimon wearing a red scarf and gloves strolled into his field of view, "So it's stupid. Listen up! The name's Impmon. What's yours?"

Growlmon took one sniff of the little digimon, noting his odd smell and answered, "I'm Growlmon. Are you here to play?"

The little digimon scoffed, "Play? I ain't here to play! I'm here to see why a big guy like you is taking orders from some dumb human who locked you in a hole in the ground!"

"I like holes! I made one in my old home but it was too small. Now I live here," Growlmon answered cheerily, unsure of why the digimon had such an issue with them. Impmon groaned, flicking his noise and explaining, "Not the point you big lumox! I meant, why are you the one in the tunnel and not him? Your bigger, stronger, and tougher than he'll ever be. So why ain't you the one on the nice cozy bed and why isn't he out here in the dirt!?"

Growlmon turned his head, confused by the question, "Takatomon can't because his parents said he can't keep me in the house."

"Who cares what they say?" Impmon stamped his foot in frustration, somehow getting angrier for no particular reason, "Why don't you go and take that nice cozy bed for yourself and tell them to suck a lemon!?"

"What does suck a lemon mean?" Growlmon asked curiously, unsure of how to process the questions Impmon was asking. The only thing he was certain of was that Impmon was angry at something else. And his own question appeared to have left Impmon speechless. While he waited for an answer, Growlmon cracked a tired yawn and closed his eyes, "Night night. Sleepy time now."

He'd only had his eyes closed for a second when Impmon screamed in anger, "I'll teach you to disrespect me! Take this!"

Suddenly, Growlmon's nose was on fire and burning. The digimon yelped in agony and tried to put it out, only to find Impmon striking at him again with fireballs shooting from his finger, "Take this too! Have another!"

Growlmon got up as much as the tunnel would allow and responded the only way he could. He flicked the little digimon away, "I don't like this game and I don't want to play it anymore. Go away!"

"GAME! You think this is a game!? This ain't no game! I'm talking about how digimon get cajoled into doin' things for them humans and we ain't gettin' squat in return!" Impmon hissed out angrily, jumping up and down in what could only be pure anger, "And if you ain't wit' me, then yous on them's side!"

Just as he was about to strike again, Growlmon opened his mouth and spat out a fireball, "Pyro Blaster!"

Impmon yelped and narrowly managed to avoid it, complaining of his ill luck. The little digimon seemed to get tired after that, running off further into the tunnel to leave. That was fine by him because he didn't want to play a game with this little digimon any more.

* * *

Rika awoke to a sore side that she massaged to help the pain go away. It was still Sunday, and she made her way out into the dining room where her grandmother was busy setting breakfast out on the table - eggs, bacon, rice, fish, and miso soup. Rika tried to hide the fact that she was massaging her side but her grandmother noticed anyway, "What happened, Ruki?"

She hoped that if she didn't answer, her grandmother would let it go.

"Oh fine, what happened Rika?" she asked more sternly. Instead of avoiding the subject, her grandmother thought she just wasn't answering to her real name. She had to answer now and stammered, "Nothing. I took care of it."

"Let me look," her grandmother was on her faster than she could react, and lifted up her shirt to see the bruise from where she hit the tree yesterday. She gasped, "RUKI! What is this?"

"I already told you, it's nothing," she complained, lowering her shirt down to hide the bruise and sitting up from the table without having eaten a bite of breakfast. Once again, he grandmother was on her before she could react and pulled her back down into the chair, "You're not going anywhere young lady. What is this? Are you being bullied at school? Did someone pick a fight with you? What happened?"

Ruki was pulled back down and sighed, "It's nothing. I promise."

She could tell from her grandmother's expression that she was as frustrated as she was disappointed, "Fine, don't tell me. But we are going to a doctor and I'm calling your mother."

"Like she'd show up," Rika rolled her eyes. Her grandmother was quiet after that, and it occurred to her that she might've struck a nerve. They both had. Rika didn't protest after that - accompanying her grandmother to the doctor so that she could be looked at. It took most of the afternoon, but her bruises were treated and the doctor said that aside from being sore, she would be fine. At some point, her grandmother did use a cell phone to call her mom but her mom didn't answer. That only proved Rika's point though. Her mom wasn't going to show up. And her grandmother sensed that as they took the bus home. After a lengthy drawn out silence between them, her grandmother tried to reassure her, "Rika. I know how it looks. But your mother cares about you. She really does."

Rika clicked her tongue, "Then why is she never home? At least dad had the decency to not come back when he left."

"Rika, your father cared about you just as deeply. My son would never abandon his family!" she scolded her. Rika just scoffed at that assumption, "Then where is he, grandma? If he'd never abandon his family, then tell me where he is. Because I'm pretty sure I haven't seen him in a while! If he cared so much about me, then why doesn't he just tell me that to my face?"

She didn't realize it until she was done fuming, but she had let out a lot of pent up anger and frustration. And once she was finally able to calm herself down, she saw her grandmother's stunned face clearly. As well as the surprised looks from everyone else on the bus. She'd crossed a line in her fit of anger. She pocketed her hands, and turned away from the older woman so she couldn't see the hurt expression on her face. She wasn't even sure how to respond to her now, even after she'd taken her to the doctor, "Look, I'm…sorry. I'm…getting off on the next stop to take a walk. I'll see you when I get home tonight."

Once the bus rolled to a stop, she hurried off her seat to leave. Before she could even take her first step, she felt her grandmother hug her from behind. Her grandmother held her there for the longest time, until she finally said, "Take all the time you need Ruki. I'm not mad. But please be careful and don't get yourself hurt again. I love you."

"I…same," Rika answered, unable to say it back. She knew she'd hurt her grandmother by not saying it, but it would hurt her more if she did. It had been a long time since Rika had been able to say those words. She wasn't sure when she'd be able to say it again.

* * *

Yamaki jolted awake in his darkened office, realizing he'd fallen asleep at his desk again. He cracked a tired yawn and checked his computer screen, seeing a new email in from the Minister of Defense. Good, he'd been waiting for the response to authorize the use of the Juggernaut program. Hopefully, with the increase in digimon appearances, he would finally get approval. He opened the email and read it carefully.

_Yamaki_

_I've spoken with the Prime Minister. We've agreed to authorize a one time test of the Juggernaut Program. Clearance for the test firing will be Monday night at 1800 hours. Notify your team and stand by for my arrival. I'll be reporting what I see to the Prime Minster directly afterwards._

Yamaki smiled to himself, happy to see that the Hypnos Program was finally making some headway with the Prime Minster. This was the most progress the Hypnos Program had made as a part of Project Morpheus. He closed out the email, took a moment to straighten his clothes so that he looked presentable, and went out to make the announcement to the rest of the program. With the exception of Izumi, he was sure that the organization members would be happy to learn that their efforts weren't for nothing.

* * *

Rika made her way to the park and stopped in front of a vending machine to get herself a soda. Hopefully, a drink would help her clear her head and get her thoughts back together after the exchange she'd just had with her grandmother. When she went to reach the drink out of the machine, a thought occurred to her that Renamon was nearby as well - probably keeping an eye on her. She had to thank her for saving her life. Without a second's hesitation, she popped another coin in the machine and got her an iced coffee. Did digimon like iced coffee? Maybe Renamon was more a tea drinker? Maybe she should get her something else? Without thinking, she put several more coins in and got everything from tea to grape soda. She carried as many as she could in her arms and went under the shade of a nearby tree - knowing full well that Renamon would appear just above her.

She rested her back against the tree, making sure no one else in the park was looking, and called out to her partner, "Hey, Renamon."

"Yes, Rika?" she heard her partner call out to her from above. Rika chose her words carefully, "About yesterday. I'm…sorry for everything before and…wanted to say thanks. For saving me and being my friend."

"We are partners, after all," Renamon answered. Rika nodded and threw as many of the cans as she could up into the tree, delighted to see Renamon catch every single one with ease. Upon seeing the confusion on Renamon's face, Rika added, "I wasn't sure what kind of drink you liked, so I got you one of everything. Thanks."

As she stepped away from the tree to drink her own soda now, she could overhear her partner say, "My first gift. Let's try this one. Ooh, it packs quite the punch. But not as much as me."

Rika smiled to herself, happy to see that she'd put a smile on someone's face today.

* * *

When Monday morning finally came, Juri felt nothing but exhausted. Although Takato said he'd catch up, he never did. And she didn't see him at all Sunday. That just scared her more about what that creepy government guy could've done to him. Killed him? Kidnapped him for questioning and torture? All of it was making her anxious. So it came as a relief when she walked into the classroom to find Takato once again cornered by Kazu and Kenta excitedly asking him all kinds of questions about his digimon partner while he pleaded with them to keep their voices down.

She'd wanted to ask him about what happened with the man with the gun but hadn't been able to find him since he told them to head out without him. Henry didn't linger, hurrying home with Terriermon. She tried asking why he didn't just have Terriermon stay at home, but Henry embarrassedly admitted that it was because his family had been giving a hard time due to a misunderstanding.

Then Takato noticed her and waved, departing from Kazu and Kenta - to both their derision and the amusement of some of her other friends. Before she could even say hi, he gestured for her to join him back out in the hall. Trying to ignore the looks her friends were giving her, Juri followed Takato back out into the hall where he greeted her like nothing happened Saturday, "I'm glad to see you're okay Juri. Did Henry make it out okay?"

"I...yes, I think so," Juri nodded, "He took Terriermon home just in case that guy came back. Is Growlmon okay?"

"I think so," Takato massaged the back of his head, "He's back to being Guilmon by the way. I don't know what happened after I left but I found him hiding out in the bushes claiming some dark purple imp wouldn't stop bothering him."

Despite his cheery demeanor, Juri's mind was still on Saturday. She wanted to press what happened and what Takato knew that she didn't. What _they_ didn't - Rika and Henry. He'd talked to that man alone, walked right up to his gun and dared him to shoot. And he didn't seem at all bothered by any of it - it was like he'd just gotten in trouble at school, "Takato, what happened with the weird guy?"

"I took care of it," he answered evasively. When he saw the answer didn't satisfy her, he spoke at just above a whisper, "Okay, but promise you won't get mad or tell my parents. He wanted me to hand Growlmon over and I told him no. Then he said he was going to shoot me and I called his bluff."

"Takato!" she gasped out at that last part, "You were going to let him shoot you?"

"Of course not," he threw up his hands defensively, "But he wasn't going to, even if he threatened too."

"And what makes you so sure?" she demanded more seriously. He shrugged it off, "It's a long story and I'll tell you all about it another time."

"Stop doing dangerous things and getting yourself in to trouble!" she blurted out furiously, unsure of when she suddenly cared that much. Her exclamation took him off guard, but no more than when Miss Asaji appeared behind them with her books and lesson plan under her arm, "While I agree with your sentiment Juri, I think you need to remember that too. Class starts in a minute and you'll both get into trouble if you're not in there."

"Yes Miss Asaji," Takato nodded, taking Juri's hand without thinking and pulling her into the classroom. As soon as they stepped in, the entire class oohed at them - prompting Takato to let her hand go and make his way to his seat. Juri quietly took hers, only to get asked by her classmate, "Hey, Juri! When did you and Takato become a thing?"

"We're-" she tried to answer only for the bell to ring and Miss Asaji to walk in behind them, "Okay class, enough chatter. We have a whole module to get through today and we're going to work hard on it!"

Her friends giggled and returned to facing the front of the class, leaving Juri mortified at how everything must've been looking to the others. Maybe that was her sign for how weird her day was going to be and she should've paid more attention to it. Because during the lunch break, when her and her friends pushed their desks together to eat together, Henry suddenly appeared at the door and asked to borrow her for a second. Before she even had a chance to leave, Minami asked, "When did you get so popular, Juri?"

"I don't know," Juri replied as she made her way outside. She got outside only to see Henry gesturing her to follow him down the hall and under the stairs - which usually only meant one thing. It didn't help that Henry reached into his backpack while explaining, "Okay, so I'm really sorry about this but-"

"Henry," she said to get his attention, stopping just short of actually going under the stairs, "What's going on?"

He sighed, "My parents think I stole Terriermon from a girl at school and...it's weird. Look, can I just ask you to hang on to Terriermon for a few days until my parents forget about the whole thing?"

"Is that why you had him hiding out with Guilmon?" Juri asked in surprise. Henry nodded, "Yeah. I'm sorry to drop this on you, but do you mind taking care of him for a few days until my parents leave me alone? I'd leave him back with Takato, but I don't want to bother him since he's got Guilmon. And I don't want to leave them together in case that guy with the gun shows up again."

"That'll be a long time, Henry," Terriermon commented all too happily as Henry pulled him out of the bag. Henry whispered, "We're at school, keep it down! You're supposed to be a doll. Doll's don't talk."

"Moumantai," Terriermon winked. Henry groaned and set the digimon down, "Please Terriermon. The last thing I need is my parents getting mad at me about causing problems at school."

Terriermon took the hint and fell quiet - stiffening up so that he'd be perfectly still like a doll. Juri took Terriermon in her arms, surprised by how light he was despite having seen him take on digimon the size of a building without flinching. Henry waved, "Thanks Juri. I gotta go. I'll get him from you once things calm down at home."

"I'm just happy to help," Juri nodded, wondering how she was going to explain this to her friends when she got back up to class. She tried to think of how to explain it but was too worried Terriermon would break character and start talking again. But, to her surprise, he never broke character and pretending to be a doll. Which stopped her from having an explanation when she finally got back to class. All her friends 'oohed' again, and she was bombarded with questions when she sat back down. Minami was the first to ask, "Oh my gosh! Did that boy just give you a gift?"

"Uh, no," Juri tried to wave it off only to get asked by Yuuko, "Wow, Juri. What's up with all these gross boys paying attention to you?"

"It's not like that, honest!" Juri said, trying to put Terriermon away in her bag before anyone could notice it. Of course, it was too late for her because both Kazu and Kenta had come over, "Was that Terriermon?"

"It was a doll Henry gave me," Juri tried to explained to them, just wanting to end this conversation before it got any weirder. Of course, Yuuko had to ask, "A Terriermon? Isn't that a digimon? Juri, I didn't know you liked that silly boy stuff."

"It's not silly," Kazu defended, "It's the greatest game ever! And get this, the best player in the entire game is this one girl. I think her name's Rake or Raku or something like that."

"It's Rika," Takato said suddenly, appearing behind them and making them jump. Kenta pushed Takato's goggles down, "How do you do that?"

"I'm just cool like that," he answered rather proudly only to get shut down by Kazu, "Then how come you can sneak up on literally anyone except for Miss Asaji?"

"Because I have eyes in the back of my head," Miss Asaji answered as she walked into the classroom with her folders and books tucked under her arm, "Everyone, return to your seats. Lunch ended a minute ago."

"Yes Miss Asaji," the entire class sang, returning their desks to where they used to be. Thankfully the lesson moved rather quickly because she wanted to get out of this mess as soon as she could. Unfortunately for her, she could feel half of the class staring at her from behind. She'd never felt so self conscious before. Why did she have to sit in the middle of the class? Thankfully, the end of the day came quickly and Miss Asaji was about to dismiss them but stopped, "Now class, I have a quick announcement to make before you all go home. There've been reports of a child running around the school and the park at night - vandalizing and taking school property, harassing couples at the park, tearing up the grounds, and dumping a pile of manure there."

That last part made the class giggle, but Juri looked over her shoulder at Takato to see him averting his eyes to hide how nervous he was looking. She was certain Miss Asaji was looking at him too. Miss Asaji added, "I don't think I have to remind you to not be running around late at night. However, starting tonight, us teachers will be taking shifts patrolling both the school and the park at night. If we catch any of you there, there'll be big trouble. This is your one warning."

Then she smiled, "Okay, you're dismissed. Have a nice day."

As the class hurried out, her friend Yuuko came over, "So seriously, Juri. What's up with Takato and Henry?"

"Um," Juri paused, trying to think of an answer to that question but too lost on how to actually answer it. Before she could think of anything, Takato appeared beside, "Hey, Juri. Mind if I borrow you for a second?"

"Yeah, yeah sure!" she answered quickly, gathering her things to follow Takato out of the classroom. As they hurried out, she heard Minami called after them, "You know we're just going to follow you guys, right?"

"I really hope they don't," Takato thought allowed as they hurried out of the school building. Once they were out of the school, Juri frowned, "Us running out of the class together like that probably didn't help things."

"Hey, wait up!" Kazu shouted from behind them, running after them with Kenta to catch up. Takato sighed, obviously as frustrated about this day as she was, "Here's comes more trouble."

"Why would they be more trouble?" Juri asked them as they came in. Both boys stopped just short of them and Kenta added, "Look, Takato. We know you're busy with your girlfriend and everything but don't think you can cut us out of anything going with the digimon because of that. Guilmon's the cause of all the stuff at the park, right?"

"What? No! Of course not," Takato threw up his hands defensively, "At least, I don't think he is."

"You mean you don't know?" Kazu asked like he were accusing Takato of something. Takato rolled his eyes, "How would I? I don't know what Guilmon does when I'm not around."

"You're his partner, genius. Why don't you have him at your place anyway? Why's he living out in the park?" Kenta asked curious. Takato threw up his arms in defense, trying to explain, "How am I supposed to hide a 6 foot dinosaur that smells like a swamp on a hot day in my house? Mom and dad knew he was there on day one!"

"You could've just lied and said you got rid of him," Kenta offered only for Juri to point out, "Wouldn't it be obvious that he lied?"

"Whatever, let's just go see if it was Guilmon!" Kazu said ecstatically, "If it was, then I call dibs since obviously you're not cut out to be his partner, Takato."

"What? No! I'm not going to bet Guilmon like that!" Takato spat out in disgust, "What kind of person do you think I am?"

"The kind who abandons his friends over a girl," Kenta answered back. Juri wanted to be mad about that, but noticed the Takato already seemed upset enough. He didn't say or do anything about it - but the look on his face so obvious that she was surprised both Kazu and Kenta missed it. It was anger - something that she didn't think Takato was capable of with all the times he'd been trying to help even the most dangerous digimon. Was he embarrassed because of her or something else?

"Takato, are you alright?" she asked him, whilst Kenta and Kazu walked ahead. He nodded, "Yeah. We should go check on Guilmon before those two try to make him their partner."

* * *

Yamaki sat at a chair overseeing the preparations for the test fire of the Juggernaut. Progress was slow but at least it was moving - the delays coming mostly because of Izumi's reluctance to actually use the weapon in any actual capacity. He didn't fault Izumi for that - his personal connection with the creatures and his previous experiences made him sympathetic to their plight. However, Yamaki didn't need his sympathy. He needed his expertise on the subject - something he was unable to get anywhere else since the actual experts on the subject had all gone underground.

"How much longer?" he asked, growing impatient with the slow process, "The minister will be here soon."

"We just need to stabilize a few more of the generators," Riley answered expertly, still working on her computer and try to coordinate the different teams with Tally, "Previous tests were able to draw on the power systems in the building because it was localized. But to operate on this scale, we need to have a few more generators to keep the weapons from overloading the city's power grid and-"

"Without the technobabble," Yamaki interrupted quickly. Riley sighed, "A few more minutes to get the generators up, another thirty minutes to stabilize the energy feed, and then another hour to prime the weapon. We'll be ready to fire by the minister's command whenever he gets here."

"Well then don't delay," the minister's voice resonated behind him. Yamaki stood up off his chair and bowed towards his boss, "Sir, it's a pleasure to have you here."

"Save me the pleasantries Yamaki," the minister waved him off, "I told you to have this weapon ready to fire as soon as I arrived."

"Preparations are taking longer than expected," Yamaki answered. The Prime Minister scoffed at that, "Well then you'd better hope that this weapon works. We've sunk millions into funding this project and the Prime Minister hasn't exactly been pleased with the returns on this investment. If this test fire doesn't go without a hitch, we will shut you down and look at alternatives to this problem."

"I understand perfectly sir," Yamaki answered, trying his best to keep himself from saying something incredibly stupid in front of his boss. No matter how much he wanted to beat the man to a pulp for being just another lazy bureaucrat. Keeping his fists at his side, Yamaki went on to add, "We've tested the weapon a few times on smaller targets at a more targeted scale to ensure it works as designed. It's guaranteed to work."

"And how does it work exactly?" the minister asked. Yamaki gestured for the minister to follow, "If you'll come with me, we can have our resident expert Izumi explain the science behind Juggernaut."

* * *

Juri watched Guilmon playfully trying to get a ball from both Kazu and Kenta who were playing a weird game of catch. Despite his large size, Guilmon's clumsy movements made it hard for him to properly catch the ball with each throw. Both boys seemed excited enough by the game, which kept Guilmon distracted while Takato emptied his backpack of more bread than she thought could fit in there. That must've been the benefit of being the son of bakers - he had a near unlimited supply of bread to feed his partner.

Which was good since Terriermon had decided to help himself to some of it. As the little digimon ate, Takato asked, "So why do you have Terriermon, Juri?"

She ran a hand through her hair, trying to explain it without making it awkward only for Kenta to do the honor for her, "I think he's jealous-"

"It's not that," Juri interrupted before he could say another word, "Henry's parents think he's a doll that's stolen so he asked me to keep an eye on him."

"Well that's rude. Why not ask me?" Takato asked, massaging the side of his head. Juri frowned - sensing Takato's unease, "He said he didn't want to bother you since you've already got Guilmon. He said Terriermon can be just as much of a handful."

"Moumantai!" the little digimon said with large, spread out ears. It was starting to get late out now, and the sky turned orange with the setting sun. Juri reminded them, "We should probably go home before we get into trouble when the teachers show up."

"Got that right," Kazu picked up his belongings, "Hey Takato! How about we go over to my place and play a quick round! I'll give you a handicap and let you have my WarGreymon card! I've got like five of them."

"No thanks," Takato answered, still massaging the side of his head. Kazu started flapping his arms up and down, "What's the matter? Chicken? Bawk bawk bawk-awk!"

"Very funny," he patted his partner on the head, "Okay buddy. Don't cause any trouble and stay out of sight tonight. Some more people may come around looking for you, okay?"

"Okay," Guilmon nodded enthusiastically, returning to eating his bread. Kazu added, "So what makes you so sure that no one will just come knocking on the shed looking for him?"

"I doubt any of the teachers are going to come up here with Guilmon's big steaming pile there," Takato reasoned, "But I see your-"

* * *

"We're ready, sir," Riley announced to Yamaki's delight. Yamaki looked over to the Minister for his order but the man seemed genuinely annoyed that he hadn't just fired the weapon, "What are you waiting for? Fire away!"

"Fire the juggernaut!" Yamaki ordered, watching Izumi and Riley turn their keys simultaneously to fire the weapon. Everything was going according to plan. Every computer screen showed the weapon discharging its payload.

* * *

"-point and it's not like-" he paused, stopping mid sentence with his mouth hanging open. He took a step back and pressed himself against the wall for support, looking down at his arms which had become completely transparent again. Juri remembered this from last time and looked over at Terriermon and Guilmon again - both we're becoming transparent and distorted. Kazu and Kenta both freaked out at the sight, barely able to hide the concern in their voices, "What are you doing Takato?"

"Yeah, what is that?"

"I don't-" he paused again, "My head-"

He pressed his hands against his head, massaging his temples, "-hurts. There's something...digital field...outside."

He hurriedly stumbled his way out of the shed, trying to keep himself from falling over as he pushed the iron barred door open to the park. Juri followed him outside, once again certain that he was running off into certain danger without a thought for his own safety when she noticed an unseasonably strong wind. Then there was a faint glimmer of light in the distance, coming from the top of the nearby metropolitan building.

"Dude, what is that!?" Kazu pointed it out in panic.

Then the screaming - the faint screaming of something in horrible agony. Juri covered her ears to block it out, but that only seemed to make it louder. Takato was gesturing up at something, and Juri followed his gaze to see small shadows flying through the sky towards the light. Upon closer inspection of one, she recognized the vague outline of one of the digimon from their trading card game. Kazu shouted, "Are those digimon!?"

"It's a Digital Field," Takato shouted, "A...gate to the...Digital World. It's...it's pulling all...digimon in!"

Juri looked his way and noticed the ghostly appearance spread from his arms to his neck and to his legs. Kenta pointed it out, "If it's supposed to be pulling in digimon, what's happening to you!?"

Takato didn't answer, choosing to forcefully close the gate to the shed and keeping the digimon inside, "Stay in there! Do-on't come...out!"

Guilmon gestured at his tail and Terriermon, "Look, Takatomon! It's spread and it feels funnier!"

"That's...great," Takato said, leaning against the gate to keep it closed. Then, as quickly as it started, it stopped. The wind died and the ghostly affliction left Takato, Guilmon, and Terriermon. Any moment they would've used to appreciate it was lost when they heard a soft boom in the distance. The top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building was smoking.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is the Tokyo Metropolitan Building in smoke? What happened to Takato and the digimon? And what exactly is happening in the Digital World? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next week on Friday April 12th at 8 PM CDT. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section and I'll try to respond as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not follow or favorite the story to keep up with all the latest updates? That's all I have for now! I'll see you guys in the next installment! Now let's take a look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "Think of it as borrowing without permission, but with every intention of returning at a later date to be determined at another time," Takato answered with a pointed finger, shoving the shades into Henry's hand and looking back up at the burning tower. Kazu asked, "How did you fail our grammar test again?"
> 
> "Because I can't spell and I don't like kanji, hiragana, katakana, or romaji," Takato retorted grumpily, "Seriously, I have a hard enough time with the first three, I don't want to figure out how to write in someone else's language."
> 
> "Anyone got any ideas on how to get up there?" Henry looked up at the tall building. Rika answered, "One, but it only gets me and Renamon up there. What about you guys?"
> 
> "I have an idea, but it's going to make quite the scene," Takato answered sheepishly. Between the burning building, the hundreds of injured people, and the police, Juri was sure Takato had missed something kind of important and pointed that out to him, "There's already a scene, Takato. I don't think any one is going to notice."
> 
> "Yeah, but you guys should get clear in case any one comes to ask any questions," Takato answered sheepishly.


	12. From The Other Side

 

Smoke filled the air, and fire was everywhere. That wouldn't be so bad if Yamaki could get the ringing out of his ears. He was flat on his back for some reason, and his entire body ached. He sat up and looked around, seeing only darkness illuminated by the smoldering cinders. He called out, "Is everyone alright? Sound off!"

"I'm okay!" Riley answered. That was a relief.

"Fine, sir!" Another called back.

"My ears are ringing but I'm fine," Tally called back.

"Can anyone see anything?" one of the scientists shouted out in the dark.

"I can't see a thing through all this smoke!" another called out.

"I can't feel my leg," Izumi's voice groaned out in the dark. Yamaki stumbled around the dark room, following the sound of Izumi's voice until he saw the outline of a man in front of him. It was too dark to see properly and Yamaki lit up his cigarette light to see who he was looking at. It was Izumi - he looked fine. Yamaki brought the flame further down to his leg, and saw that he was missing his leg from the knee down. It was gone - obliterated into a messy blood stain scattered along the floor. Yamaki cursed, "Shit."

"Yamaki! What the hell happened?!" The minister asked. Yamaki ignored the minister, undoing his belt and tightening it around what remained of Izumi's leg to stop the bleeding. The guy was as pale as a ghost and would be soon if this wasn't stopped. He patted Izumi's shoulder to keep him awake, "Stay calm. Your leg is gone and you've lost a lot of blood. Don't worry. We'll get you out of here."

"Y-yeah," Izumi nodded, obviously too out of it to properly assess anything he'd heard. He probably didn't even realize how much pain he was supposed to be in. Yamaki took the man's arm over his shoulder and tucked another arm under Izumi, "Come on, stay with me Izumi."

"Generator...overload," Izumi mumbled, too drained of blood to finish whatever he was saying. The guy was hopping with each step Yamaki took, and Yamaki did his best to keep him from falling over. Thankfully, Riley came up on his other side and helped support him there so he wouldn't have to hobble along too much. Then the minister called out again, "YAMAKI! Don't you ignore me!"

"I don't know what happened, you fucking clod!" Yamaki snapped back, "And if you want to stay long enough to figure it out, you're welcome to. Burn yourself alive for all I care. I'm evacuating my people and getting them out of the building."

"Sir!" Tally called out to him, "There's something on the monitor! Something big!"

Yamaki called back, "I don't care! The buildings on fire! Let's evacuate!"

"SIR!" Tally called again, "You need to see this."

Yamaki paused and looked over his shoulder to see the large monitor over the room. It was a miracle it was still working after what just happened. But the fact that it was setting off an alert was more alarming. A single large red dot moved across the screen - stopping directly over the part of the map that marked the Metropolitan Building. Yamaki's jaw fell open, "It's going to bio-emerge here!?"

"Tear...open...worlds...connected," Izumi mumbled out between gasps for breath. Yamaki had no idea what he was babbling but there was a wild one coming here. A big one. They had to contain it, "Tally, deploy the QRF! Everyone else, get out of here!"

"Yamaki!" The minister shouted. He'd had enough of the minister's constant shouting for his name by that point. Without even a thought for any of the consequences, snapped at the older man, "Listen up you incompetent bureaucrat! I don't know what happened, and my only interest right now is getting my people out of here. If you want to sit there, point fingers, and scream like a little shit toddler trying to rattle to mommy and daddy, be my guest! But before you start throwing blame, remember that I can end your career with a single leak. Now get out of my way."

The minister blinked, but regained enough of his composure to begin reprimanding Yamaki, "How dare you-"

"Retsuko Sunoda, January 12th of this year, the Ichiraku Ramen Shop," Yamaki interrupted, the day the minister had met his mistress. Watching the minister's stunned face was all the leverage Yamaki needed. The minister tried to deny it, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, mister minister. It's so big. You're so good," Yamaki added to his stunned boss, knowing that specific line meant nothing out of context. But his boss's silence said more than anything else he could actually say, "We have a lot more than just that on you. And a lot more. Now get out of my way, or I'll be leaking everything I have."

The minister seemed to get the point and stepped out of their way, giving them the opportunity to finally get to safety. There were a lot of stairs on the way down and he didn't want to be here when the building came down on top of them.

* * *

The explosion was so loud that it was impossible to miss. Rika looked up from her walk and scanned the skyline. In the distance, she could see a small pillar of smoke rising up from the top most floor of the building. Then her digivice started beeping. She already had a guess why, and was unsurprised to see it pointing at the tower in front of her. But the image of the digimon it showed was completely alien to her. It was some kind of tiger with wings, but there was no other information appearing on the screen. What kind of image was this? What kind of digimon was she about to go up against? She reached for her deck, readying it when some guy with his hat pulled down over his face bumped into her - sending the deck scattering along the ground.

"Watch it!" she called out after the man bitterly, gathering her cards together quickly, "Are you ready, Renamon?"

"I am Rika," she heard her partner answer from behind her, "But this digimon is different. Whatever it is, it's strong. Stronger than anything we've faced before. If we go, we should be careful."

"We can handle it," she remarked confidently, trying her hardest to ignore the feeling of dread she could feel coming from that tower in the distance.

* * *

It was almost like something out of a crazy video game as far as Henry was concerned. The Tokyo Metropolitan Building was smoking in the distance, and his own digivice was pointing him at some strange digimon somewhere on top of it. Like the digivice expected him to go to the top of the tower and defeat the boss of a video game. But it couldn't even tell him anything about the digimon. And it was one he'd never heard or seen before. What was he supposed to do with this?

If he had to guess, it would've been to go find Juri so that he could get Terriermon, and then go after it. Odds were, she was with Takato and Guilmon. And there was no doubt that they were already on their way there. If anything was certain, Takato was on his way there to help out any way that he could. He sighed, contemplating what would possess the boy to act like that before hurrying after them himself. It was just enough time for him to wonder what was wrong with himself?

* * *

Kari and Mori scoured the park. She really wanted to go lie down after work. She loved her job, but that didn't mean she didn't like a break every once in a while. Then she heard the earth shattering boom in the distance and turned to see the smoke rising from the Metropolitan Building. She felt her heart stop, and instinctively reached into her pocket for her digivice.

Not that it would do any good. She may have brought the digivice with her everywhere, but that didn't mean she could actually use it in any meaningful way. Not without her partner. Besides, there was no reason to think this was a digimon. They hadn't been seen in a long time. Not since Takeru vanished.

"Miss Kamiya! We should probably head back!" Mori said nervously. Kari massaged her forehead as her current problem reminded her it was there. She looked at him, "Mister Mori. The Metropolitan Building is a good distance from here. There's no need to get worked up. Besides, we're still on the clock. Head home if you want, but I'm going to stay here."

She really hoped he did leave. She didn't care too much for his clinginess or attempts at earning her affection. Unfortunately for her, he seemed frozen in place out of terror. That was just as good. It meant she'd get a small break from him and, with any luck, she could leave him far enough behind that he'd get lost trying to find her for a while.

* * *

Takato swung the gate open to let the digimon out, "Are you guys okay?"

"Us? What about you?" Terriermon asked, pointing at his arms, "You were turning into a ghost, just like us!"

"I'm fine," he nodded, massaging his head, "Just a headache. A really bad headache. I've had worse."

His digivice started beeping erratically, and Juri noticed him wince at the sound, "And this isn't helping. Okay, what is it this time?"

"No idea, but I bet it has something to do with that," Kazu pointed upwards at the smoking top floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. It was hard to miss despite the setting sun, partially because of the soft glow of light coming from whatever fire was up there. Juri couldn't keep her eyes off it, wondering what digimon was up there that caused that and hoping everyone was alright. And Takato was going to run into that.

She wanted to urge him not to go until she saw the look on his face. Surprise, confusion, and a little bit of dread. He put the digivice away and said, "Maybe you guys should wait here."

Kazu raised his arms in protest, "Are you kidding!? There's no way we're missing this! We're coming to watch! I ain't listening to this stuff again on the news."

"Same!" Kenta agreed. Terriermon leapt up onto Guilmon's head, "Get us a box because we've got a long way to go to get there."

"Yeah, right," Takato picked the box up and threw it over them, "Try to keep up. Let's go guys!"

Without even hesitating, everyone followed Takato out of the park and towards the burning tower in the distance. The whole way, crowds of people stopped what they were doing to point up at the spectacle - some wondering aloud if it was monsters, terrorists, or an accident. They were so enraptured by it, that no one seemed to mind the fact that Guilmon was running by in his giant box. Or that it had a long red tail poking out from under the bottom.

The front of the building was no different - with a large crowd gathered at its base while fire crews and police kept everyone at a distance across the street. Behind the police line, it was hard to miss the lines of people leaving the building. Many were covered in soot, while others were visibly injured. Among them was the man in the shades they had seen the day before. The one who so casually threatened them with a gun.

He and some woman were helping to move another man - one who hobbled oddly on one leg. Another glance told her why - his other leg was gone. Blown clean off. Kenta gasped, "Maybe we should've stayed back. This looks bad."

"We can't back down now, dude!" Kazu shook his shoulder and pointed up, "There's a digimon up there and there's no way we're going to miss this fight."

"TAKATO! JURI!"

Everyone spun around to see Henry running up just behind them with his digivice dangling from his belt. He stopped to catch his breath, grabbing at his chest before finally asking, "What's going on?"

Takato pointed up at the smoke and fire, "We just got here. Whatever is coming through is on top of that building and we need to get up there before anyone else does."

"Alright, where's Terriermon?" Henry asked, looking between them all for some sign of his partner.

"Moumantai," his partner answered from inside the box. Henry smirked a little at his partner's carefree attitude, then noticed Kazu and Kenta, "What are you guys doing here?"

"We could ask you the same!" Kazu answered defensively.

"Why is it always you guys?" Rika asked as she appeared beside them with a hand on her hip. Juri was relieved to see her there, along with Takato who happily greeted, "Welcome back, Rika. Good to see you're back in the game!"

Rika rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't exactly call any of this a game, goggle head. So, what is it this time?"

Takato shrugged, "I have no idea. But you're going to want to put on your shades."

"At this time of night?" Kenta asked disbelievingly, until Takato explained, "The fog hurts your eyes when the digimon show up. Besides, the last thing any of us want is to get recognized. We've been lucky so far but we don't want that guy with the shades recognizing us."

He demonstrably put on his goggles and looked at Henry, "What about you?"

"I don't have anything," Henry answered sheepishly, looking to Rika as she put her pair of sunglasses on.

"Got it. Wait here," Takato nodded and disappeared into the crowd. A long uncomfortable silence passed between all of them. None of them had really spent time together outside of these digimon showing up and none of them really knew what to say to each other. The silence only broke when he reappeared a moment later with several pairs of shades: He handed a golden pair to herself, a green pair for Henry, a copper pair for Kazu and a pink one for Kenta, "You can borrow these."

"How come I get the pink ones?" Kenta complained sheepishly, missing the more obvious question that Henry had to ask, "Where...did you get this? My parents already think I stole Terriermon. I don't want them to think I moved up to stealing clothes and accessories."

"Think of it as borrowing without permission, but with every intention of returning at a later date to be determined at another time," Takato answered with a pointed finger, shoving the shades into Henry's hand and looking back up at the burning tower. Kazu asked, "How did you fail our grammar test again?"

"Because I can't spell and I don't like kanji, hiragana, katakana, or romaji," Takato retorted grumpily, "Seriously, I have a hard enough time with the first three, I don't want to figure out how to write in someone else's language."

"Anyone got any ideas on how to get up there?" Henry looked up at the tall building. Rika answered, "One, but it only gets me and Renamon up there. What about you guys?"

"I have an idea, but it's going to make quite the scene," Takato answered sheepishly. Between the burning building, the hundreds of injured people, and the police, Juri was sure Takato had missed something kind of important and pointed that out to him, "There's already a scene, Takato. I don't think any one is going to notice."

"Yeah, but you guys should get clear in case any one comes to ask any questions," Takato answered sheepishly.

* * *

Yamaki collapsed on the ground as soon as Izumi was safely in the hands of the paramedics. He turned down an oxygen tank, letting Riley have it first. Since he was a chronic smoker, the smoke didn't affect him as much as it affected her since she was struggling to breathe after the first flight of stairs. And they just marathoned the entire building. He took a minute to straighten himself out, trying to get to his senses when he noticed some all too familiar faces in the crowd. It was those kids again - the kids with the giant red dinosaur.

They must've had something to do with this. What else could it have been. He began walking towards them when a flash of light blinded his vision briefly. Instinctively, he put a hand on his gun and shielded his eyes with his other. When the light died down, he looked on to see the red dinosaur was a lot smaller in size now. And it had six white angelic wings sprouting from its back. It picked up the two boys and flew up towards the top of the building. Then a yellow fox leapt up beside them, running up the length of the building with a girl in its arms.

He felt his mouth fall open in disbelief at the sight before him. Who the hell were these kids? And more importantly, how did no one else see that? He wasn't crazy. He knew what he saw. It was hard to miss that bright flash of light. Then again, with so many flashing lights from the ambulances and the smoke coming from the Hypnos Program, odds were that there was too much going on for anyone to care. He would have to go up and take care of the problem alone.

He turned to head back in but was grabbed by Riley. Her grip was surprisingly strong for someone who was struggling to breathe just a moment ago, "Sir, where are you going?"

The question was formal, but he knew what she was asking. She was worried he was about to go do something incredibly stupid. He answered, "This isn't the time for this."

She snorted, "And this isn't the time to do anything stupid. We were the last ones out of the building. What are you going back in for?"

It was a fair question, but he still had to get up there. If he repeated what he saw, she'd think he was crazy. He had to make something up, "To make sure there was no one left behind."

She took a deep breath from the oxygen mask before passing it to him, "Be careful, sir. And come back alive, you idiot."

He nodded, placing the oxygen mask inside his coat pocket and running back inside. He hated lying to her, but she would've come with if she knew why he was really going back in. And he would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.

* * *

Upon landing on the roof of the building, they were greeted by the same digital fog that marked the arrival of a digimon. But this cloud was so large that it covered the whole roof of the building. Renamon set Rika down beside Guilmon as the dinosaur landed. He dropped Takato, Terriermon, and Henry before collapsing on his own, "You guys are heavy."

Terriermon asked the obvious, "So did you have a plan for after we got to this part?"

"Hope he likes talking," Takato answered sheepishly, "And hope that he doesn't just outright attack us."

"Humans...why are you here?" a deep voice spoke from within the fog, "You will stand aside or I will burn you away with fire."

"Okay, why is he threatening us before he even got here?" Rika demanded, trying to ignore the looks she was getting from the others. Terriermon pointed out, "Maybe he's mad we didn't roll out the welcome mat."

"This is a nice change of pace though - most of the time the digimon just flat out attack us and we have to fight," Henry pointed out only to be shushed by Takato. The boy actually stepped towards the fog, pressing a finger to his lips and whispering, "Maybe we shouldn't say anything to make him angry. He already sounds like he's in a bad mood."

"And what are you doing?" Rika asked him aloud. Takato answered with a big smile, "Talking and hoping that I can convince Mihiramon to not kill us all."

Everyone collectively groaned and Renamon buried her face in her hands as she asked, "That _will not_ work! That _does not_ work! It has _never_ worked for you! And how do you know its name?"

"That's the least important question right now," he spun on his heels to face the fog, "Mihiramon! We don't want to fight you. We want to help. Why are you here?"

The answer came with a growl from the fog, "Who are you to know me? How does a human know my name?"

Takato's expression soured as he answered, "I know quite a bit, actually. What I don't know is why all the digimon are coming to the human world. Are you looking for something? Is there danger? Why are you here?"

"A lowly human would never understand. Especially not a child," Mihiramon replied.

"Kids saved your world!" Takato shouted at it. Mihiramon responded with a dangerously loud roar, blowing away the fog with a gust of wind from his wings and revealing his form: a large golden tiger with purple stripes and angelic wings. The tiger stared down on Takato, growling at the boy until Guilmon ran between them. The two digimon growled at each other - daring the other to make the first move across some invisible line on the ground. Takato tried pulling the red digimon back, "Sorry about Guilmon. He gets like that sometimes. He really doesn't mean anything by it. Let's talk!"

"Digimon, subservient to a human?" Mihiramon growled, "This will not stand."

He roared again, creating another strong gust that nearly threw them all off the tower. Rika scoffed at Takato's attempt to talk - none of the digimon ever wanted to talk and this guy didn't seem to be any different. She quietly sifted through her deck for the right card and nodded to her partner. Then she shouted, "Forget talking. Get out of our world already, freak!"

"NO!" Takato pleaded, too late to stop Rika from swiping a card in her deck, "Digimodify! Strength Boost Activate! WarGreymon's Shield Activate!"

"STOP!" Takato pleaded again as Renamon ran straight at Mihiramon with the shield in her hand. Rika called out, "Defense, Renamon! Let's see what this guy has and then come up with a plan! Hey! Chinese kid!"

"It's Henry," the boy answered and she rolled her eyes, "Whatever, are you fighting or what?"

"I…" the boy paused, looking back up at this Mihiramon. Terriermon chimed in, "Let me make this easy, Henry. You won't have to worry about your parents thinking I'm stolen for much longer if you're not alive to get yelled at."

Something seemed to click inside Henry's brain and he understood - nodding in solemn agreement with his partner and saying, "You're right, Terriermon. Give me a second to find the right card."

Now they were both fighting Mihiramon, ignoring Takato's pleas to stop the fighting, "Guys, stop! We don't have to fight! Henry, listen to me!"

Anything Takato had to say was lost when a ball fire erupted from Mihiramon's mouth, narrowly missing all of them and hurtling off into the city and striking the side of a distant building. This only confirmed what Rika already knew - the creature was only interested in destruction. Well not if she had anything to say about it. She raised up her digivice and said again, "How about you listen to us, goggle head! That digimon is going to kill us and the city if we don't stop it! Get off your high horse, stop trying to talk it down, and help us kill it!"

Takato spat back, "I'm tired of fighting. For once, I just want to talk this out. For all we know, we're on the same side! And…damnit, I wish I knew how to use this digivice!"

"We've seen you use it, goggle head. Just swipe the damn cards!" she spouted, tossing her deck holder at him which he caught. She turned her attention away from him and back towards the battle playing out in front of them. As she instructed, Renamon was using the shield to tank hits from Mihiramon and keeping his attention so that they could attempt to find a weakness. But from what she could tell - the digimon's vicious attacks boiled down to sheer speed and brute force. In fact, if it weren't for Renamon's natural reaction speed and WarGreymon's sturdy shield, she likely would've been defeated already. How could she take relentless attack and make a strategy around that? He never seemed to pause or slow down. It was just one strike after another.

If he was too busy attacking, maybe he was unaware of his surroundings! Of course! She called out to Henry, "Henry, have your partner rush in from the side and attack his blindspot!"

Henry nodded, producing his deck, "Got it! Terriermon, get ready for a little pick me up!"

"Well, it's about time!" Terriermon cheered excitedly.

* * *

Calumon floated along playfully through the airy night sky of this strange human city using his large ears as wings to help him stay aloft. As he floated by, he noticed a ball of fire shoot past just in front of him and collide with a building off in the distance. The little digimon's eyes widened with curiously - he'd only ever seen something like that when there were digimon trying to kill each other. And there seemed to be a lot of that for a world that was supposed to only have humans.

Still, he traced the path of the fireball back to a distant burning building - perhaps one of the tallest buildings in the city. Calumon oohed, "I wonder what's happening there? It must be a fun party. It's gotta be if the building is on fire!"

Yes, that had to be it. There were absolutely no flaws in his logic. With a nod, he floated towards the building and the smoke. When he was just a short distance away, he noted the crowd of people gathered below on the city street and that confirmed his thoughts. There must've been a fun party going on! Why else would all these people be here? Oh right. He forgot. Fireballs only fly by when digimon are fighting each other.

"Diamond Storm!"

"Bunny Blast!"

"Samurai Tiger Tail!"

Calumon paused as he finally noticed the fighting happening in front of him. Of course there was fighting. There was always fighting - why was there always fighting? He hated to watch the fighting. He wished that it would stop! He wanted it to stop!

"STOP! PLEASE!"

Calumon noticed Guilmon's human friend - the weird kid with the goggles trying to call everyone back, "We don't have to fight! Guys! We can talk this out!"

"Oh sure, how about we just lay down and make it easy for him to finish us off," the mean girl said. Guilmon was the only one of the digimon not fighting - keeping his distance beside Takato but looking like he wanted nothing more than to run into the fight. Calumon descended down just behind them, keeping quiet to avoid being noticed so that he wouldn't get dragged into this. He wished he could be as brave as those other digimon, but he wasn't anywhere near as strong as they were. If he ran into this, he would be hurt and most likely die. But he didn't want that. He didn't want anyone to get hurt.

He noticed Takato fiddling with his digivice, seemingly annoyed that he couldn't figure something out, "Work. Why won't it work? Come on. Just-"

He outstretched his hand, pointing the digivice at the giant tiger digimon but nothing happened. The boy smacked his digivice again and again, growing frustrated with each slap, "It...isn't...working."

Calumon wanted to help, he really did. But he didn't know how he could.

"ENOUGH! SAMURAI TIGER TAIL!" the giant flying tiger roared, spinning his tail and striking the digimon as he spun in a circle. Renamon's shield shattered into tiny pieces as she and Terriermon were thrown backwards. Renamon managed to catch the edge of the building before she fell off while Terriermon slid to a stop just before falling. Both their partners came to their aid, leaving Takato and Guilmon alone to face down the tiger. It roared, "I have had enough of these games. I will complete my mission. The catalyst must be procured, and I will not allow you to stand in my way!"

That last part caught Takato's attention, "The catalyst? Why are you looking here for the catalyst?"

"The tamer is missing and options were few. The catalyst had to be hidden. Now it must be found!"

"Well you're looking in the wrong place. It would never be here in the Human World!" Takato shouted at it. Mihiramon roared in defiance, "I don't know who you are but a human cannot possibly know this. You are a danger to our world. And so we mete out your punishment!"

"Wait!" Takato tried to shout one second too late, unable to stop the tiger from charging him. Guilmon charged back, "Leave Takatomon alone!"

"Guilmon! DON'T!" Takato shouted. But the two were already dead set on rushing each other. Calumon wanted to help. He really did. But what could he do? He wasn't big like Guilmon, tough like Renamon, or witty like Terriermon. He whimpered, and noticed Takato looking at his digivice. The boy pleaded, "Please, just give me this. Please. JUST WORK!"

He thrust his digivice forward one more time. If only he could help. Calumon felt a surge of energy building inside him. He hated when this happened, and closed his eyes as a bright light flashed from his forehead.

* * *

"Guilmon! Digivolve to! Growlmon!"

"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"

"Renamon! Digivolve to! Kyubimon!"

Henry was stunned. Where did that light come from? And how had their partners all digivolved? He hadn't done anything. And Takato and Rika looked just as confused. Mihiramon appeared just as surprised, stopping his rampage for a moment to gaze upon their partner's' champion forms. Then a look of anger flashed across his face and he roared, "I don't know how you did this, but don't expect it to mean a thing. You will still perish at my hand!"

"It's really more of a claw," Gargomon pointed out. Mihiramon just roared in anger and Henry groaned, "Don't antagonize him!"

"I'm just saying," Gargomon insisted, continuing despite Mihiramon's ever growing scowl, "I mean the colloquialism doesn't work."

"I don't know if I'm more impressed that you know what that is, or that you're brave enough to taunt a guy who's been wiping the floor with you," Henry frowned, somehow reminding Gargomon that Mihiramon was there. This didn't stop him from getting in one last snarky remark, "He wouldn't be if you would use more of your cards."

And it was now that Mihiramon decided to attack, "Samurai Tiger Tail!"

"Gargo Pellets!"

"Fox Tail Inferno!"

"Pyro Blaster!"

Mihiramon missed his mark and was struck from three different directions. Annoyed, the tiger digimon spread his wings and took to the air, "I've had enough of this. It ends now!"

He ascended skyward and disappeared into the darkness. Henry strained his eyes to see and saw nothing, removing his glasses to try and get a better look. But between the smoke and the dark, the tiger had vanished into the night sky. He looked over at the others, "Did he run away?"

"That wasn't very brave. So much for all that tough guy talk," Gargomon added. For a moment, it did seem that Mihiramon had simply fled the fight for his own safety. Before any of them had a chance to relax, Kyubimon's eyes narrowed and she shouted, "He hasn't left. He's still there."

"You can see him? What is he doing?" Rika asked anxiously, trying to scan the horizon for the digimon but unable to see anything. Then Takato suggested, "We might want to get off the roof."

"We're not leaving until this is over goggle head," Rika countered until Takato added, "I think he's going to slam into the roof of the building."

"What? Why would he do that?" Rika shouted in disbelief until they heard it. The unmistakable boom of something breaking the sound barrier. And when they looked up, they saw Mihiramon hurtling towards right at them with his wings folded. He was indeed going to divebomb the building. Takato explained, "That's why! If the impact doesn't kill us, the fall from this height will."

It finally made sense why and Henry shouted, "Shoot him down, guys!"

Gargomon primed his guns and aimed upwards, "Don't gotta tell me twice! Gargo Pellets!"

"Fox Tail Inferno!"

"Pyro Blaster!"

All three digimon started shooting upwards at Mihiramon, but he was moving too fast for them to get a good hit in. Takato shouted, "We're going to have to jump guys."

"What? You want us to jump? Jump where!?" Rika shouted in disbelief only to be answered with Takato gesturing up, "Up. He can't knock us off the building if we're off the building."

"That's your idea?" Rika shouted in disbelief, realizing they were running out of time and options. Takato grabbed onto his partner's legs and shouted, "Just do it! Get ready guys! Ready...JUMP!"

Rika grabbed onto Kyubimon's leg and Henry latched onto Gargomon bandolier. On Takato's command, all three of their partners leapt into the air as high as they could and Mihiramon slammed into the building with enough force to bust a hole in the ceiling and disappear into the floor below. The whole building shook, and they could hear windows shattering all the way down the length of the building. When all three digimon landed, Mihiramon was just starting to climb out of the hole he made, "That should've thrown you all off the building. How did you survive?"

"Maybe we're smarter than you give us credit for," Takato began, still trying to reason with the giant angry tiger digimon, "Come on. Talk to us. We can help."

"We don't need your help," Mihiramon hissed, spreading his wings to try his high speed attack again. He roared out defiantly, shaking the already weakened building and Henry shouted, "The building can't take another hit like that! Gargomon! Ground him!"

"Got it," Gargomon primed his guns again and fired on Mihiramon's wings. The digimon howled in pain as the bullets shredded holes in both, forcing the digimon to fold them, "GRAH! INSOLENT LITTLE- You die first!"

"Well...fu-," was all Gargomon had time to say before Mihiramon swiped the digimon with his razor sharp claws. The champion flew backwards from the near lethal strike - regressing back to his rookie form of Terriermon and lying defeated at Henry's feet. Henry's mouth fell open and he ran to protect his partner - knowing full well he'd get killed for trying. But he wasn't going to let his partner get hurt any more. Then he noticed the look on Takato's face. Takato was busily sorting through the deck of Rika's cards - quietly mumbling to himself about needing something, anything.

"Kyubimon! Help him out! Goggle head! Give me back my deck!" Rika shouted at him. Kyubimon rushed in and slammed into Mihiramon from the side, knocking him straight into Growlmon who lifted the digimon up and slammed him back onto the ground, "Pyrosphere!"

"ENOUGH!" Mihiramon roared, using his tail as a whip to smack Growlmon away and then slashing at him with his claws. Growlmon hissed in pain and stepped back.

* * *

Takato yelped in pain and dropped all of Rika's cards on the ground. Rika shouted, "What the hell, goggle head!?"

"Hurts," was all Takato managed to say as he sank to the ground, clutching at his chest. Rika looked down at the boy, unsure of what he was saying and then back up over at Growlmon and Mihiramon. Mihiramon was really slicing away at Growlmon - seemingly intent on ripping the digimon to pieces. Then she looked back down at Takato, clutching his chest - in the exact same spot where Mihiramon was swiping away at Growlmon.

That made no sense. What? Was she supposed to believe that the goggle head actually felt the pain that Growlmon did? That wasn't how it worked. Kyubimon and Gargomon had taken plenty of hits and neither she nor Henry were in any kind of pain. Then she felt Takato grab her leg, "We have to...stop this."

She offered her hand to help him up and he looked onward at Mihiramon. He was holding one of the cards in her hand and he looked ready to use it. But he couldn't bring himself to move his hand or the card. He turned his head to Rika, weakly admitting, "I can't...barely move...what card...is this?"

She snatched the card out of his hand and examined it - it was blue and had the drawing of a digimon she'd never seen before. It looked like a digitized Tyrannomon without the fins, or a Greymon without the horns. She'd never seen this card before and had no idea where it'd come from. But it came from her deck? When did she get this? What she did know was it was unlike any other card she'd seen before. She'd say it felt like plastic but it wasn't. It was like it was made out of...something. But she didn't know. But there was something telling her to use it. Something in the back of her head screaming to use it - that this was the answer to the problem.

" _Use it Rika."_

She looked up, unsure where the voice had come from. But if this was what they needed, then she would use it. She swiped the card through the digivice, "Digimodify!"

Her digivice erupted into a bright light and leapt straight towards the Kyubimon, "Kyubimon! Digivolve to! Taomon!"

Renamon was stunned by her partner's new appearance - she stood there upright like a human but wearing the clothes of a Taoist priest; long and white with purple leggings marked by the symbols of hokey old religions and beliefs. The digimon floated upwards, standing upon some invisible platform. Mihiramon became angered at the sight of the digimon, "You...so...you're the tamer."

"That's right!" Rika snapped, "I'm a digimon tamer, right here!"

"So you became a girl," Mihiramon mused, confusing her, "Became? I was born a girl, dingus! What makes you think-"

"It's just-"

"Just what?" Rika snapped angrily, "Just what!?"

"Wait, why did you say a and not the? Aren't you _the_ Digimon Tamer?" Mihiramon asked. All Rika would give him was a dirty look. What kind of question was that? There were three of them!

"Never mind," Mihiramon grumbled, "So this is where you've been. You...you will come with me."

"Are you kidding me? You blew up my home!," Rika snapped angrily, "Taomon! Shut him up!"

"I thought you'd never ask," Taomon said with a bit more joy than she probably should have. She raised up her hand to produce a giant paintbrush - she drew a symbol in the air and held her hands in a praying posture, "Bon-Hitsu-Sen! Talisman of Light!"

The Sanskrit character flew through the air straight towards Mihiramon. He tried to leap out of the way but was held down by Growlmon, "You're not going anywhere!"

Mihiramon roared in anger and sank his fangs into Growlmon's neck. Takato seemed to scream in agonizing pain - sinking to his knees before finally collapsing to the ground. Growlmon roared and held Mihiramon tighter - forcing the digimon to get hit head on by the attack. Mihiramon let out one final roar before he was consumed by the ink symbols and exploded into a burst of data. As the data dissipated, Tao went about absorbing his data for herself.

The fight was over. She knew it. She was the stronger tamer - the best. She and Renamon had beaten this freakazoid coming over into their world. But before she could cheer, she heard Growlmon cry out, "Takatomon!"

That's right. That goggle head collapsed. She turned to see him struggling to get back up and there was something weird happening to him. He was clutching his chest like he was in terrible pain. But something else was happening. It was like he was distorting - like a digimon that was about to die but not quite. He looked up at her, making brief eye contact that pleaded for help, "We have...have to go...not safe...park..."

And then he collapsed. The park. The park could only mean one thing. But why the park? She wanted to ask why but the building started to groan from their battle. She could worry about this later. They had to go now if they didn't want to call to their deaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takato's unconscious. That thing is defeated, but what was it? What is Takato hiding? And if one got through, who else can? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of the Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in two weeks on Friday April 26th at 8 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys think in the reviews section. I try to reply as soon as I'm able. If you loved it, be sure to favorite and follow the story to keep up with all the latest updates. Now let's look at some previews for the next chapter:
> 
> "You kids get outta here! This ain't a place for kids."
> 
> All three of them turned and ran before the office could get another word in, "Hey! Get back here! I mean...don't. I mean- damn kids!"
> 
> Kazu stuck his tongue out at the officer as they made their way to safety at the end of the block and just outside a corner. Kenta groaned, "Man, now we'll never know what's going on over there."
> 
> "You think they're going to be okay?" Juri asked nervously, dreading the answer that either boy could give. It didn't help that Kazu cheekily added, "Those others are probably okay but I'd be worried about Takato. That kid couldn't play the card game to save his life. And they-"
> 
> Every word made Judi's heart sink and it only stopped when Kenta elbowed the boy hard in the gut. Kazu was about to protest until Kenta pointed her out. He took the hint and offered an apologetic, "Sorry. I mean, he's probably fine. I taught him every move in the game he knows!"


	13. Mistaken Identity

Yamaki examined the roof of the tower carefully now that the monsters were gone. Just the sheer destruction of that fight was terrifying. The helipad was cracked and broken, some of the air ducts were dented, and there was a gaping hole that wasn't there before. He scratched his head as he tried to figure out a way to explain this to his superiors without causing any trouble. Without a doubt, the minister was going to try some kind of power play and Yamaki's threat of ruining his career wouldn't go very far.

Still, the Juggernaut did what it was supposed to for the few seconds that it had worked. Now the question was how? Izumi mumbled something about tears in reality. It was only supposed to destroy the wild ones, these monsters that kept coming into their world. So how did that big one use it to come through...unless it worked both ways.

Like a bilge pump used to pump water out, only it had been poorly designed and let more water in instead. That had to be it! They would need to revise it...but Izumi was out of the picture and would be for a while until he was recovered. And there was no guarantee that the hole created by the juggernaut was closed. As far as he knew, he'd made things worse by making it easier for these things to get into their world.

He took a deep breath to calm his thoughts as he contemplated what the correct course of actions for his organization would be. But the calm quickly turned to distress as he realized there was little he could do to make this right - even damage control was out of the question. He'd have to revamp his staff - that meant finding the original programmers. The Monster Makers as they liked to call themselves. The ones responsible for this mess.

And while he was at it, he may as well go find the rest of Izumi's group. The ones protected by Burnt Leaf for so long. Four were too public figures to approach: the musician, the fashion designer, the model, and the lawyer. But the rest could be tracked down if he looked in the right places: one was a school teacher and likely unwilling to cooperate, another was overseas helping with a humanitarian crisis, the detective and his wife were untouchable, the ramen shop owner moved too often and was around too many people to at any given time to acquire. That left the author - the one who'd gone underground and vanished after that damn book of his. That damn, stupid book. Maybe it was time he picked it up and gave it a read? He'd need all the help he could get to track them all down.

* * *

Juri looked up at the burning building in silence, trying her best to stay calm. Takato and the others were probably battling for their lives up there and she hated feeling powerless to do anything about it. Especially when the whole building shook without warning and every glass windows shattered from the top - sending debris falling onto the crowd below. Police and fire crews tried to evacuate the onlookers further back but Juri, Kazu, and Kenta refused to budge. They were all eager to know what was going on up there.

Then a flash of light and a loud roar echoed from the top. Some of the crowd speculated that the building was about to collapse, inciting a small panic that sent people scrambling for safety. She hoped they were all okay - that everyone was safe and everything would be alright. Although she had to admit that the long pauses between all the thunderous booms and loud shouts were making her nervous. The next period of silence was the longest and Kazu broke out in complaint, "Ah! I can't take this anymore! I want to know what's going on!"

His outburst caught the attention of a police officer pointed them out, "Hey there kids! Shouldn't you be at home? Get outta here before you get hurt!"

All three of them turned and ran before the office could get another word in, "Hey! Get back here! I mean don't. I mean-ARGH, damn kids!"

Kazu stuck his tongue out at the officer as they made their way to safety at the end of the block and just outside a corner. Kenta groaned, "Man, now we'll never know what's going on over there."

"You think they're going to be okay?" Juri asked nervously, dreading the answer that either boy could give. It didn't help that Kazu cheekily added, "Those other guys are probably okay but I'd be worried about Takato. That kid couldn't play the card game to save his life. And they-"

Every word made Juri's heart sink and it only stopped when Kenta elbowed him hard in the gut. Kazu was about to protest until Kenta pointed at her. He took the hint and offered an apologetic, "Sorry. I mean, he's probably fine. I taught him every move in the game he knows!"

"You just said he couldn't play to save his life," Juri replied sheepishly. That remark made Kazu and Kenta look down quietly, and now Juri was certain of the worse. He was dead. They were all dead.

"That's where you guys went," Rika's voice said behind her. Juri jumped in surprise but felt more at ease to hear her voice. Then she noticed she was alone and looked annoyed. Granted, she was always annoyed but there was something different about this look of annoyance. Kazu cheered, "You're okay! What happened? Wait, where are the others?"

"I'll tell you on the way," Rika gestured for them to follow her through the busy streets. Juri hesitated for a moment, wondering when they'd finally come down from the fight - and still dwelling on the fact that Rika was alone until she called out again, "Hurry up!"

Snapped back to her sense, Juri followed after her and asked, "Rika, where are Henry and Takato and the others?"

She was drowned out by Kazu and Kenta excitedly firing one question after another, "So what happened?"

"What was that thing?"

"How'd you guys beat it?"

"If you guys took it out, it can't have been that tough!"

It was hard to tell if the questions were annoying her or not since her expression didn't change, and it didn't help that she sounded almost proud of her answers, "Renamon and I took it out. She digivolved to champion and wiped the floor with that guy."

Kenta cheered ecstatically, "So who was it?"

"It's name was Mihiramon," Rika answered, "Goggle head knew its name. Don't ask me why or how."

"Where is the guy anyway? He didn't bail, did he?" Kazu followed up, before promptly putting his foot in his mouth, "Don't tell me he let himself get shown up by a girl."

He realized his mistake when Rika turned on her heel and kicked him as hard as she could in the shin. Kazu jumped up on one leg while nursing it and complaining, "What gives?"

"What do you think?" Rika snapped angrily, getting ready to kick him again until Kazu panicked, "I get it! I get it! Sorry. Geez. What's got you all worked up?"

"Rika," Juri said, trying to get her attention. Rika straightened herself out, still shooting the stink eye at Kazu who kept his mouth shut. Once again, Juri asked, "Where are the others?"

The fact that Rika's expression was still unreadable didn't help but she did finally answer, "I was getting to that. Henry, Guilmon, and Terriermon are with Takato. While we were fighting Mihiramon, something happened. Every time Guilmon got hurt, Takato...sort of felt it. He passed out just before the fight ended - we didn't know what to do so we took him to the park."

Any relief Juri had washed away and she worriedly demanded, "Is he okay? Should we take him to a hospital?"

"He said no," Rika replied sheepishly, motioning for them to follow again. Juri raised an eyebrow at that, unsure of how to answer. Thankfully, Kenta asked the question she was thinking, "I thought you said he was passed out."

"He is," Rika admitted, scratching her head and changing her answer, "He was? Look, it's weird. One second, he's out cold and just lying there. The next second he jumps up and spazzes out, then he just passes out again."

"So is he out cold or isn't he?" Kazu asked. Rika turned, looking ready to kick him again until he threw up his arms to defend himself. That was enough to calm her down and she went back to leading the way to the park - where they found Miss Asaji quietly patrolling the park with Mister Mori, another teacher who seemed to be annoying her. Mister Mori was saying something about how they had to think about the children and their innocent minds until Miss Asaji groaned, "Mister Mori, I think I left my clothes in the oven or something like that. I have to go back to my house. Why don't you finish off the patrol without me?"

Without you?" Mister Mori repeated, seemingly hurt by her desire to get as far away from him as possible. As she turned towards them, they all frantically dove into the bushes to avoid being seen. Rika had no idea why they'd done that, and was even angrier when they all pulled her in with them. Once Miss Asaji passed, Rika hissed, "What the hell gives, creeps?"

Kenta wearily explained, "They're teachers from our school - they started patrolling the park at night because they think a student has been running around late at night. They probably meant Takato or Guilmon but it's no fair that it messes with us too!"

"You're telling me," Rika agreed grumpily, watching as Mister Mori continued on ahead. Juri couldn't help but feel sad for Mister Mori whose expression turned glum once Miss Asaji was out of sight. That is, until he grunted something about getting her one day no matter how long it would take. Then he continued into the darkness humming about how beautiful he thought she was. Once they were certain it was safe, they stepped out of the bushes and were called out right away, "It may be dark out but I'm holding a flashlight. It wasn't that hard to see you kids."

All four of them jumped at the same time, turning to see Miss Asaji with folded arms, "What are you kids doing here this late? It's a school night. Go home."

"Well, y'see," Kazu was about to begin until Miss Asaji held up her hand, "Look Kazu. You're already causing me enough trouble in class. Save your excuses and go home. I don't want to hear that it was my student causing all this trouble at the park. Get."

She gestured at the entrance to the park seriously, glaring at them the only way a teacher could. However, that wasn't enough to actually scare them away. In fact, Rika folded her arms grumpily, "And who are you?"

"Your teacher," Miss Asaji started with a hand on her hip. Rika countered with, "You're not _my_ teacher."

"Well, I'm _theirs_ ," Miss Asaji gestured at Juri, Kazu, and Kenta. Juri felt her heart sink as Miss Asaji turned her gaze upon them, "And if you don't go home now, I'll personally be walking each of you home so that we can have a nice long chat with your parents. Is that what you-"

WOOSH!

She paused when something flew past overhead. It was so dark that none of them were able to see it properly, but they could make out its frightening visage. Something small and fast, illuminated only by the small flicker of fire. Miss Asaji pointed her flashlight in the direction it had gone, muttering something under her breath before instructing, "You kids go home now. I'm going to check that out."

"Is that such a good idea Miss Asaji?" Juri asked nervously, "Whatever that was looked dangerous. Maybe we should call the police?"

"Don't worry about me. You kids head on home," she assured them, gesturing for them to leave before hurrying on by herself to inspect whatever it was. Juri looked back at the rest of them, but they all seemed unfazed by what they'd seen. Then Rika declared, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Go? Go where?" Juri asked anxiously, racing to catch up to the girl as she went on ahead. Rika never answered and they followed along in total silence until they came across the familiar shed where Takato had been hiding his partner for the longest time. Inside was dark, lit up only by the soft moonlight trickling in through the door. Henry stood just at the door, nervously remarking, "What took so long?"

"We ran into their teachers outside," Rika answered, gesturing at the rest of them. Then she pointed into a corner, where Guilmon and Terriermon were busy hovering over Takato lying there with his eyes closed. He was alarmingly still for someone who was supposed to be unconscious and Juri had to restrain herself from breaking down at the sight of him. He was dead. He had to be. What other explanation was there for why he wasn't moving. She was so nervous, she barely registered Rika asking, "How's he doing?"

"I'm awake!" Takato shouted as he jolted up for a brief second before falling back into unconsciousness. Henry answered sheepishly, "Still doing that, so you tell me."

"He's not dead is he?" Kazu walked up to the boy and poked the side of his face. Terriermon remarked, "He doesn't smell dead. He smells...weird."

"Wait, did he pee himself?" Kenta asked while trying to stifle a snicker. Guilmon answered with a raised hand, "Sorry, that was me. I couldn't hold it so I went in the hole."

He gestured towards the hole in the center of the floor that he'd dug out for himself to use as a bed. Everyone tried to hold back the need to be sick while Henry added, "Hey, you guys didn't have to hear it. It was like a fire hose."

"Well, now I'm imagining it. Thanks," Rika crossed her arms, and went over to the boy's side. She gestured at him carefully, "See what I mean though? He's out cold one second, and the next he jumps up before passing out again."

Kazu crossed his arms and frowned, "So he's not okay. Maybe we should've told Miss Asaji?"

"NO!" Takato jolted up again, this time leaping to his feet and pointing a finger at Kazu, "She can't know. She's not…supposed to…wait…where are we?"

"Oh, so he is awake," Terriermon chuckled. As soon as Guilmon tackled the boy with a great big huh, Terriermon changed his response, "Well, maybe not any more."

"TAKATOMON'S OKAY!" Guilmon said excitedly, practically smothering Takato on the ground. The boy tried to push him off but the dinosaur was too heavy for him, "Whoa! Okay. It's good to see you too, boy. Now…get…get off!"

He was finally able to push Guilmon back, dust himself off and collect himself. He took a quick look around himself and remarked, "We're back in the shed. What did I miss?"

"We beat Mihiramon, you passed out, then we came here," Henry answered quickly, "So I think it's time we talked because it's obvious you're keeping something from us. For starters: how did you know that digimon's name? All three of our digivices scanned it and none of them knew what it was. But you did. How?"

"I…" Takato paused, massaging the back of his neck nervously and casting a sideways glance at Juri. She recalled the things he said when they were in private together not that long ago - when he said there were things he couldn't tell her, because the last thing he wanted was to put her in danger. After a long silence he looked up at them, "If…look guys…there's…"

"Spit it out already goggle head," Rika snapped out angrily. Takato mumbled something about promising the truth a long time ago before answering, "I guess it was going to come out sooner or later. If I tell you, you have to swear that you won't tell anyone else."

Henry noted, "It's not like we're telling anyone about our digimon. If anything, you're the one telling people things. Juri, Kazu, and Kenta here are the only ones who shouldn't know about them and you're the one who told them."

"It was a slip of the tongue," Takato answered sheepishly, avoiding making eye contact with Henry before going on, "But besides that, I need to know you guys won't tell anyone. But it's not just that. Things are probably going to get more dangerous from here. There are people out there shooting at digimon - you three know what I'm talking about. And that guy who pulled the gun on us before won't hesitate again. He will shoot the next time he shows up. And with Mihiramon? He was trying to kill us! If we're not careful, we will die. So if you guys still want to know, to be a part of this, I need you to know that there's no backing down from here."

"We're still here aren't we?" Terriermon asked rhetorically, pointing at Takato, "And after everything that's happened, I think it's safe to say that we're not going anywhere. So just tell us already."

Juri wasn't so sure about that. She should leave. If she didn't stay, she was definitely going to cause everyone to die. That was her lot. People she got too close to ended up dead. And she didn't want that for any of them. It would be better if she left. She turned to leave but was stopped by Kazu grabbing her arm, "Where do you think you're going? You were here before Kenta and I were! You're not chickening out now, right?"

"I just-" Juri tried to counter but paused, trying to choose her words carefully before she answered. Thankfully, Takato answered for her, "Juri is one of the bravest people I know. If she wants to walk away from this, it's not because she's scared. It's because she's being smart and doesn't to take part in the risk. That's not chickening out. Chickening out would be leaving after I tell you guys. So I'm going to ask one last time, are you sure you want to be a part of this?"

Juri noticed the hesitation on everyone's face, all except Rika who stated, "We just took on a giant flying tiger with wings. At this point, I don't think we're scared of anything else."

"Yeah, well, you might just want to be," Takato answered, looking around the room to make sure no one else was leaving. When everyone stayed, he started pacing around uncomfortably, "Where's Renamon?"

Rika's expression soured and she called out, "Renamon?"

"Here," her partner appeared at the entrance without a sound, "I've been listening in. So what is it you're not telling everyone?"

Takato nodded, wearing a surprisingly guilty look as he began to answer, "I promised a long time ago to someone, I can't remember who, that I'd stop hiding things. That I would be more…open, so…let's start with this: I'm from the Digital World."

An uncomfortably long pause followed. Juri wasn't sure how to take that news, or even if she should believe it. The others looked just as incredulous, and Kazu was quick to point an accusing finger, "Get outta here with that. So what? You're from the Digital World? I think those goggles are on too tight because you're-"

He stopped when he noticed Takato pull something out of his pocket and held it out for them to see. It was some kind of weird device, with a small screen, a tiny antenna, and only two buttons. It was also banged up and dented in a few spots, worn and torn beyond belief. Even the screen had been cracked somehow. Takato explained, "This was my original digivice. It shorted out after I…changed? No, that's not the right way to put it."

He scratched his head carefully, "I've been trying to fix it since I remembered it existed…but…I gotta be honest, my memories aren't all there yet. Everything's fuzzy after the change. And a little mixed up - I remember things but I don't think I'm remembering them in the right order or correctly for that matter, which is part of the problem."

Henry sighed, "That doesn't exactly prove anything. You could've gotten that from anywhere."

Takato frowned at that point, "We just fought a giant monster tiger from another world and this is what you're skeptical about?"

That seemed to knock Henry down a peg and he nodded, "You got me there. So you're from the Digital World? How'd you end up here?"

Takato scratched his head, "I…had to leave the Digital World. Something was happening. To be honest, my head is still a little…fuzzy on a lot of the details. I remember landing in a coat rack and there was this really angry guy. I ran into some people. Then a cat talked? Everything gets fuzzy after that. By the time I got my head straight enough to think coherently, I'd been living with my parents…well, the Matsudas for a couple of months."

"So your memory's screwed up is what you're saying," Kenta summarized quickly, "So then how can we be sure that you're remembering anything correctly? You could be getting it all wrong and we would never know!"

It was a good point, one that was hard to argue. It didn't help that Takato added, "I guess you'll just have to trust me."

"Trust you?" Rika asked skeptically. Takato nodded, "Yeah, that's what friends do. Right?"

"Did he just call Rika a friend?" Terriermon asked aloud. Rika appeared so stunned by the question that it took her the longest time to actually respond, "How do we fix your memory?"

Takato scratched his head as he tried to answer, "There was someone supposed to help me. Someone close to me that was supposed to find me. Or I was supposed to find them. But without my digivice working properly, I couldn't do anything about it. And then the new one showed up and I couldn't get it to work right. That was around the time Guilmon showed up. It's like someone tried to make a digivice, didn't know how to do it properly, and just started putting features in. It's...like someone dropped a cellphone in the Ashikaga era and then they tried to make one of their own but they didn't understand what electricity was so we got a crude one that runs on steam and fire."

"Okay, what?" Kazu repeated dumbfounded. Takato held up his red digivice one more time and explained, "Whatever this is, it isn't a true digivice. It's a cheap copy - one with a lot of the same features, I think. Problem is, it's so low tech and basic that I can't figure it out. And they added a card reader for some reason. Which is cool, especially since it helps our digimon. I want to meet whoever came up with it just to shake their hand."

"So then if you're from the Digital World, what are you?" Henry asked seriously, tapping the boy on the forehead, "You're not a digimon, or at the least you're not any kind of digimon I've ever heard of. You look too human to be that. Unless you're one of the Angemon line. But the wings would kind of give that away. So what are you?"

"He is a Digital Ancient," Renamon answered, turning each of their heads, "A being so old they were said to be among the first life in the Digital World. Wise and powerful beyond all measure. You're supposed to be dead. None of you are left. Well, except one of them. And you're kind of young to be that Ancient."

"Personally, I always preferred the Guardians of Destiny but Digital Ancients works too," Takato admitted quietly, turning to Renamon with a curious glint in his eyes, "Now how do you know about the Guardians?"

"It's a story among the digimon. Most think it as a fairy tale, few think of them as historical fact, and even fewer believe the story of The Digimon Tamer," Renamon stated with folded arms, "An Ancient who went renegade and turned against his own people - but a hero to the Digital World as a whole. The Digimon Tamer would always appear in times of darkness but nothing is known of what became of them. Some believe that they went to the human world. Others believe they wander the most desolate corners of the Digital World, protecting it from an even older evil by keeping it at bay. But I can be certain of this: you may be an Ancient but you are no Digimon Tamer."

"And what makes you so sure?" Takato asked. Renamon looked at the others in the room, "The Tamer was a great warrior - someone who could make an army turn and run at the sound of their name. The Tamer never lost a battle. All I see when I look at you is a scared little boy trying to make peace with every monster coming his way. I don't know your story, but I can say you are not a warrior and you can't make people run at the sound of your name. As for the event you mentioned...I believe you ran from the Great War. The conflict that marked the end of your people and hid here in the human world. Some stories say a few Ancients survived by hiding, and it would make sense that you would be one of them."

"Takatomon's not a coward," Guilmon snapped angrily, "He wants to help people."

"Okay, how about we don't start fighting each other and instead talk about Mihiramon," Terriermon jumped between the two digimon to stop them from turning on each other. The two digimon didn't step away but their moods did calm a little. Terriermon then asked, "So what's his deal?"

Takato could only shrug, "Mihiramon's a Deva. Guardian digimon working for...something...kings? Lords? What was it...I want to say a flying snake with chains. And I think a turtle?"

"Well that's helpful," Terriermon commented as his head sunk down. Takato hastily added, "I do remember Mihiramon was the tiger if that helps...and there was a pig? Maybe it was a snake? No that's not...or maybe it was...it would help if I didn't have this headache!"

"Yeah, you sure get a lot of head aches," Henry remarked at the boy massaging his head, "So we've got an all powerful ancient being who doesn't remember anything before a few months ago and we're fighting the first of what sounds like a bunch of really strong digimon coming into our world because...why?"

Takato threw up his hands in frustration, "I don't know. He said they were after The Catalyst but that couldn't be here. That's secured in the Digital World. Sorry if I'm not being too clear, the headache makes it impossible to concentrate. It's like I'm...looking at two different worlds collapsing on each other. Two things that are both true but also can't be true. But there's also a third?"

"What?" Kenta asked, "In Japanese please?"

Renamon clarified for them, "Ancients were supposed to be sensitive to the natural order of the world around them and could detect anything that posed a threat to that change. It's likely his headaches are a result of that."

When that answer didn't help anything, Takato added, "Think like a book. Actually think like two books, only someone ripped all the pages out and threw them into the air. And when the pages were all gathered together, instead of separating the two books, they mashed them together to make a single book. And somehow, against all odds, the new book was put together to make just enough sense that you could make a story out of it. But all the little inconsistencies nag at the back of your head. It's like that, but bigger. And with the Digital World and the digimon showing up, it's like someone's trying to force a third book in the middle It's a miracle that only my head is pounding and nothing else."

"Wait, three?" Kazu asked, "There's our world and the DigiWorld. What else is there?"

Takato raised an eyebrow and shot him a confused look, as if he were asking Kazu if he'd just asked that question, "Isn't it obvious?"

"No," Kazu started tapping his foot. Takato sighed, "Okay, what year is it?"

"What kinda dumb question is that? It's 2001!" Rika shouted in exasperation, "So, congrats. You've told us the truth and it all ended up being either stuff we already knew or stuff we can't even use. Is there anything else pointless you want to tell us?"

Rika's outburst sounded like she'd been holding that back for a while. Juri was worried that Takato had been seriously hurt and now she was certain something was wrong with him. And she wasn't sure there was anything any of them could do about it. His head must've taken quite the hit to be talking about all of this like it was perfectly normal. Takato sighed, "Okay, let me try explaining it like this: you remember the Digimon Movie?"

"Movies," Kenta corrected, "There were three of them. Adventure! Our War Game! And The Golden Digivolution!"

Juri had been unaware that digimon had three movies to its name. She knew about the show because the boys always talked about and the card game because they played it. But movies? She had no idea how big the franchise was. Takato nodded and went on, "Not in America. They mixed three of the movies together, making it one movie. Strung together by the thinnest of plot threads."

Kazu burst out laughing, "Are you kidding? Those movies had nothing to do with each other! Why would they do that?"

"Exactly!" Takato snapped his fingers, "It's sort of like that. By themselves, the movies make sense. All together, not so much. Especially when you think about it. Then it starts to make your head hurt. Only in this case, the movie is three worlds strung together that shouldn't have been. Maybe four."

Rika groaned and started massaging her head, a sentiment Juri shared as she tried to follow along. Only she felt more lost and confused than before. Takato must've noticed their confusion and offered, "Still not convinced? Then maybe this will help. It's our teacher...well, not Rika's. Unless I never noticed. Rika might hear it before the rest of you guys but once you hear it, the distortions will begin to become more obvious. You just need to concentrate."

"Wait, why her?" Kazu complained, "Why does she get to figure it out first?"

"Try to keep up, Kazu. It's like she said. The year is 2001," Takato explained with a pointed finger, "Now think about how that's weird. Remember the books? The autobiographical book about digimon by the twenty something year old author that kickstarted the franchise? The first one takes place in 1999, and its sequel is set in 2002. So he's in his twenties now, but was eight three years ago. And she was the first one of you guys to notice that. So she'll probably notice this too. Understand?"

"No," Kazu grunted, making Rika scoff. Takato sighed, "Never mind. Just…concentrate on my voice. Block everything else out. Our teacher's name. It's Nami Asaji."

"Yeah, we know," Kazu groaned, "We see her every day."

Takato put a finger to Kazu's lips to silence him, "You're just going to be all kinds of difficult today. You're not listening hard enough. Try again: Nami Asaji."

"I still just hear our teacher's name," Kenta repeated. Takato sighed again, "Let me try this one more time and really concentrate. Clear your mind. Listen only to what I'm saying."

Juri closed her eyes, trying her best to concentrate on what Takato was saying, " _KaNarimi KAasiayaji_."

Wait, why did it sound weird? It was like there were two voices talking at the same time. And it made her head hurt, "I heard something that time."

"I still just hear Nami Asaji," Terriermon replied. He looked her way and his expression became worried, "Hey are you okay? You look like you're about to have an aneurysm."

"Yeah, just a headache," she massaged her head. Was this what it was like for Takato? All the time? How was he staying upright? Then she noticed him staring, wide eyed and amused. Takato's smile widened as he excitedly added, "Okay. Didn't expect that. That's surprising. What did you hear Juri?"

"I don't know. Just a jumble of words," she answered with a frown. Takato approached her, placing both of his hands on her temples. Her headache went away and she a felt something she hadn't before. A calm serenity that put her at ease with everything. He looked her square in the eye, "Close your eyes Juri."

She had to admit it was embarrassing to have him this close to her, but she closed her eyes and listened, "Concentrate, Juri. You can do this. Listen: _Kari Kamiya_."

She heard it clearly that time. But before she could say anything, Rika blurted out, "Kari Kamiya? From the book? And the show? You expect me to believe your teacher is really Kari Kamiya? The lady we just passed outside?"

"What? Are you telling me you heard something different. Of course she's our teacher!" Kazu cried out, "Are we done saying Nami Asaji already?"

"Wait, you didn't hear that?" Kenta asked in disbelief, looking at Kazu like he was crazy, "He clearly said Kari Kamiya. There is a resemblance now that I think about it..."

"Wait, did you say Kari Kamiya?" Henry asked. Takato patted him on the back, "Alright, Henry. I figured you'd be next after Rika, but this works. I guess."

"That's what I said: Nami Asaji," Kazu frowned. How could he not hear it? Juri looked at Takato, "What's happening?"

Takato waved his hands around excitedly as she spoke, "I think Kazu still can't hear it. Maybe his brain can't process the information properly - side effect of multiple worlds sitting on each other. That's okay. The rest of you heard me, though. Maybe he's just slow?"

"I am not slow!" Kazu protested.

"So wait, if she's our teacher," Kenta began massaging his head like he was trying to make sense of things through the strongest headache imaginable, "How come we never noticed until now?"

"You couldn't," Takato snapped his fingers, spinning in place as went on to excitedly explain, "The thing about these multiple worlds sitting on top of each other is that reality is trying its hardest to make them mesh to avoid a total collapse. You guys would never be able to notice until the damage was too much. But for me, it's dizzying trying to keep track of two worlds occupying the same space, at the same time, with contradictory information, going two different ways. Don't worry though, no one else has noticed. And I figured starting with Kari would be the easiest way to help."

"All I hear is Nami Asaji, Nami Asaji, Nami Asaji," Kazu rolled his eyes, "Takato, if you've got a crush on the teacher, now's the time to say it."

Everyone laughed, surprised that Kazu was still struggling to keep up with them. However, another question began to plague Juri. It was about Takato. They'd been in the same school, in the same grade for a long time. So how could any of this be true? Was he also one of those things that was wrong. No, he said he was an Ancient or a Guardian. Then she remembered. How could she have forgotten? Takato disappeared a year ago. He vanished into thin air. How did she forget? Juri asked, "So...Takato...if that is you...I mean, you are Takato, right?"

"Wow, one more win for Juri," he smiled at her, "You are just full of surprises, today."

Then he paused, his mood appearing to sour, "No, I'm not. My name, my real name is The Digimon Tamer. I know you're going to be skeptical of that Renamon, which is fine. I don't know who Takato is or what happened to him. I guess I'm just...keeping his life warm for him while he's not around."

That hit Juri like a ton of bricks. She heard Renamon and Rika scoff, Kazu seeming confused, and noted the look of concern on the others' faces. Then Kenta added, "Wait...that's right. You went missing."

"What are you talking about? Takato's not missing, he's right here!" Kazu exasperatedly tried to explain to the rest of them. Kenta reminded them, "No, don't you remember? Last year! He went missing for like a month. Disappeared one day after school and nobody knew where he was. How did we forget that?"

"Side effect of the different worlds sitting on top of each other," Takato answered with a half smile, "It's easy to forget all the little things when they're not happening to you, especially when they're happening across several layers of reality. It's all pretty normal, actually. Well, not normal. It's wrong. And it's why my head is always fuzzy."

None of this was normal. None of it. And whatever was going on was going to kill them all. Maybe that was why Takato disappeared? So what were they supposed to do?

* * *

Rika couldn't believe what she was hearing and crossed her arms in disbelief. It seemed the others were just as uneasy with that information. And how couldn't they be? The goggle head, if he was telling the truth, was living someone else's life! She was about to call him out on it when Terriermon interrupted, "So do we just fight these Devas as they cross through? Because Mihiramon was tough and I'd hate to see who they send next."

"As long as it's not the monkey, we'll be fine," Takato tried to reassure them, but that somehow seemed to be the most nonsensical response he could give. He did add one other thing, something that seemed to lighten the mood, "There are others who can help us out. That's what they were supposed to do, anyway: Kari and the rest. Just gotta find them."

"You mean the digidestined, right?" Henry asked incredulously, looking at Terriermon, "Did you know about this?"

"Moumantai!" Terriermon replied. Renamon's ears perked up with excitement, "You mean the chosen children?"

"Of course. If digimon were real, what else wouldn't be?" Rika asked. Takato raised an eye to her, "Are you starting to believe me?"

Rika turned her head to avoid looking at him, "So where are they? How soon can we find them?"

"I have no idea. Aside from Kari and Mimi, I have no idea where the rest of them are," Takato answered and of course, Rika groaned, "Because of course you don't. Wait, Mimi?"

"Your mom," Takato answered. Rika blinked at that, "My mom? Goggle head, are you crazy? My mom's a total drama queen. There's no way she's a digidestined. Especially…Mimi."

Despite her protests, Rika slowly began to realize that it made too much sense - her mom's love of fashion, the fact that she remembered her dad being a computer nerd, and all the times she heard her mom called a different name. Takato put a hand on her shoulder and explained, "I know you don't like it Rika but it is the truth. That's why you were the first to notice all the weird things going on. I thought you would've noticed that too."

Rika slapped his hand away, recalling one reason that made no sense, "Lets assume I believe you. Why isn't my last name Izumi?"

"It is…well, it sort of is," Takato scratched his head, "But I noticed it the first time we went to your house. The sign in front said Makino. It also said Nonaka. And sometimes it said Izumi. Your life…your lives…are sitting on top of each other in a way that is forcing reality to compensate - it's mixing and matching as it needs to keep it consistent. Normally you wouldn't notice it. But you're living in that intersection - that's why you could notice all the little inconsistencies in the books and show. And I'm sure you've heard your mom be called Mimi sometimes, whether or not you want to admit it."

Rika didn't like what she was hearing. Her mom, the annoying fashion model and actress who was the complete opposite of her…was the digidestined Mimi! It felt like her entire world was crumbling around her. It couldn't be true. There was no way she and her mom had digimon in common! It just wasn't possible.

"There's one other thing," Takato interrupted, snapping her away from those troubling thoughts, "That card. The one you used to make Kyubimon digivolve. Where did you get that?"

"I don't know. It wasn't in my deck before," Rika explained, picking up her deck so that she could show it to them. She flipped through the deck several times in search of it, "That's weird. It's not here anymore."

"The card disappeared?" Takato asked, coming over to have a look. Rika handed the deck over for him to examine, "Yeah, none of these cards would make a digimon digivolve. Maybe it was a one time use?"

Rika tried racking her brain for an explanation to the strange card and could only think of one, "There was thus one guy. He bumped into me on the way here and scattered my deck. Maybe he planted it?"

"What kinda guy just carries a card around like that?" Henry asked. Rika didn't have an answer to that either.

* * *

Kari Kamiya continued into the darkness, moving her light in search of the source of that mysterious figure that dashed past. There was no doubt in her mind that it was a digimon and her mind raced at the possibility that it could be one of their long lost partners: Veemon? Gatomon? Who else was small, agile, and could use fire? After going in the direction it had gone for some time, she called out into the darkness, "Hello? Is anyone there? It's okay, I'm not going to hurt anyone. Hello?"

"What's with you humans and butting into my business when all I want is to be left alone?" a small imp wearing a red scarf asked, appearing beside her with his arms crossed. He raised his hand up to block the light and complained, "Watch it jerk. Didn't your momma mon ever teach you not to flash those things in people's eyes?"

"You're a digimon," she said, her heart skipping a beat in excitement. The little imp clapped his hands, "Wow, you're the first human to not run away screaming. And yous figured it out. Good job. Whad'ya want and how do I make yous go away?"

"I'm Kari. I'm a digidestined and I can help," she began explaining only to watch the digimon light a fire with his fingers and throw it at her feet, "BADABOOM! Listen toots. I dunno nothin' about no digidestin' or whatever. All I want is to be left alone. So beat it. Scram! Before I actually light something on fire."

Not to be deterred, she insisted, "I'm sure if we talk this out, we could help each other and-"

"BADABOOM!" He flung another ball of fire at her feet, "I said beat it! And don't lemme catch you snoopin' after me again, ya hear?"

Before she could get another word in edge wise, he leapt up into the trees and disappeared. There was no doubt in her mind now. Digimon were appearing in the their world. And their partners were still nowhere to be found. There was something going on in the Digital World. Something bad. And she dreaded not knowing what. She just hoped her partner and friends were okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Secrets have been answered but more questions are raised. Where did Rika get that card? What is the catalyst? And what does Yamaki have in plan for Kari) Find out all this and more in the next chapter of the Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in two weeks on Friday May 3rd at 8 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys think in the comments section. I try to reply as soon as I'm able. If you loved it, be sure to kudos and bookmark the story to keep up with all the latest updates. Now let's look at some previews for the next chapter:
> 
> As Rika made her way back home, she stopped just outside her home and called out to her partner, "Hey, Renamon!"
> 
> "Yes, Rika?" she appeared beside the gate into her home. She'd had plenty of time to think about this question after the useless talk with Takato, "Back when we first met, you called me Tamer. Was that because you thought I was this...Digimon Tamer person Takato is talking about?"
> 
> She noted Renamon's delayed response, "That is what I believed at the time. I thought you were The Digimon Tamer because you were the one who so many digimon appealed to. But I see now that I was mistaken. You are just an ordinary human like your peers - but that doesn't mean we aren't partners nor does it mean that I don't care about you."
> 
> Her answer hardly made Rika feel better. She didn't want to be a part of someone else's problem - whether it meant saving the Digital World or their world or whatever. There was one other thing bothering her, "How did you show up in my room that one night? You all just sort of appeared."
> 
> "That is difficult to answer. I felt a calling in the Digital World - an unseen force pulling me towards you. Before I knew it, I found myself in that place with those other digimon. I don't know how I got there. I simply was," Renamon answered, "Is something the matter?"
> 
> "Just a bad feeling," she replied quietly, "I should head in. Good night Renamon."


	14. Snake By A Train

 

Rika made her way back home in silence, contemplating everything Takato or Tamer or whatever had told her. There was no way here mom was Mimi. No way her dad was Izzy! It just didn't make any sense! She would've noticed something like that before! She had noticed before, but she didn't want to believe it. But it brought another concern to her mind. One that she hadn't paid too much thought to since now. She stopped just outside her home and called out to her partner, "Hey, Renamon!"

"Yes, Rika?" she appeared beside the gate into her home. Rika hesitated, unsure she wanted to know the answer to this question. No, she needed to know. This was how she would find out. It was time to face the music, "Back when we first met, you called me Tamer. Was that because you thought I was this...Digimon Tamer person Takato is talking about?"

Renamon didn't answer right away and that made her nervous, "That is what I believed at the time. I thought you were The Digimon Tamer because you were the one who so many digimon appealed to. But I see now that I was mistaken. You are just an ordinary human like your peers - but that doesn't mean we aren't partners nor does it mean that I don't care about you."

Her answer hardly made Rika feel better. She didn't want to be a part of someone else's problem - whether it meant saving the Digital World or their world or whatever. There was one other thing bothering her, "How did you show up in my room that one night? You all just sort of appeared."

"That is difficult to answer. I felt a calling in the Digital World - an unseen force pulling me towards you. Before I knew it, I found myself in that place with those other digimon. I don't know how I got there. I simply was," Renamon answered, "Is something the matter?"

"Just a bad feeling," she replied quietly, "I should head in. Good night Renamon."

"Good night Rika," her partner bowed before disappearing to wherever she went when she wasn't around. As she got inside, she found her grandmother busy preparing dinner while her mom talked on the phone, "I can come by as soon as tomorrow. I'll be there. Okay, I'll talk to you then. Bye."

She tried to convince herself her mom was just taking another work call. Nothing more. But part of her couldn't help but wonder now if her mom really was the Mimi and if that phone call was from one of the other digidestined calling about last night.

* * *

Kari awoke the next morning to ready herself for another day teaching a bunch of kids who were obviously going to miss out on her lesson because they were too busy being kids. She loved teaching, she really did. But there were times when they made her want to pull her hair out. It drove her nuts. Especially since she warned her students not to wander the park at night, only to find them doing exactly that. But more than that - she'd found a digimon wondering the park late at night too. And that made her anxious to think about who or what else could've been in their world.

She readied herself a mug of coffee and some eggs for breakfast when someone knocked on her door. Half awake and not really caring for her appearance at the moment, she checked the peephole to find a man in a black business suit and glasses waiting for her on the other side. She latched the door chain to make sure they couldn't force their way in before cracking it open, "Hello?"

"Kari Kamiya?" He asked. Kari kept the chain latched, anxious that this man she'd never met knew her name. Sure her family name was on her mailbox but how did he know her given name. More specifically, how did he know her nickname, "Who are you?"'

"Mitsuo Yamaki. I'm with the Ministry of Defense. Is it alright if I come in?" he asked rather calmly. That was a definite no. She had no idea if this guy actually was with the ministry or not and she didn't care to find out. She didn't want anything to do with those government types. Not after what happened in France. Not after what she saw.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it from the other side of the door," Kari replied sternly. The man seemed annoyed, but it was hard to tell with those sunglasses on his face. He reached into his coat pocket and she prepared to slam the door shut in case a gun was pulled only to see him produce a badge with an identification card. For the Ministry of Defense, "I'm sorry to alarm you but it is urgent that we speak. In private."

Those could've easily been forged and she didn't exactly want to talk to him anyway, "Whatever it is, I'm not interested."

"It's about the digimon," he said in a hushed tone. She didn't like that last word because it was an obvious ploy to get her attention. But part of her wondered if he had some way to get Gatomon - some way for her to see her partner again.

"Give me a minute," she said after thinking it over. She closed the door and took a moment to straight out her appearance. Then she made her way to her dresser to the kitchen to retrieve a knife, taking care to slip it into her sleeve so that he wouldn't see it. It was a small measure of defense in case he tried anything. After taking another few seconds to calm herself, she opened the door and let him in. He made his way inside quietly, observing the apartment while she slid the door shut. Everything about this guy made her uneasy as he began, "Thank you for letting me in. The ministry has a national security issue at stake and we-"

"Get to the part about digimon," she interrupted. Yamaki nodded, "That's right. I'm sure you've seen them on the news despite our best efforts to keep things under wraps. Someone like you should've been able to see through all our cover stories. Last night, one appeared inside the Metropolitan Building and nearly destroyed the whole building. Which brings us to you. After last night, we've seen fit to bring as many of you back together to-"

She already knew where this was going, "The answer's no. I'm not interested."

The man seemed genuinely unfazed by that statement and proceeded as if she hadn't said a thing, "-defend our country's interests in the event of further incursion from these creatures. You will be compensated for your-"

"Are you deaf? I'm not working for you," Kari repeated more sternly. Yamaki fell silent but stared at her for a long time. His expression only broke when a small frown appeared for a second before he continued, "You do understand that this is a national security issue, correct?"

"I know. And I also know how people like you respond when things like this happen," Kari pointed an accusing finger at him with one hand on her hip, "Kids! Shot at! By soldiers! I'm not going to be a part of that. If digimon are appearing, then I'll take care of it on my terms. And my terms aren't working with you. Now get out."

Yamaki's face remained impossible to read but he took the hint and made his way to the door. He stopped just before he walked out and calmly stated, "I don't know what you mean by soldiers shooting kids. But I do know what those things are capable of. You already know too. Our generation...our age group. It's the smallest age group going five years in either direction. I don't know what you remember. But I remember the Odaiba Incident. Count the names of the dead kids you're so worried about. I'll be back again in a week. I hope you'll have changed your mind by then."

Kari was glad to slam the door on the man once he was out. The nerve of him! But she couldn't deny his point. Kids had died. They died because of her. She had to hurry to school but she knew what she was going to use the lunch break for. She had calls to make...to as many of the others as she could.

* * *

Juri walked along the quiet sidewalk to school, pondering everything not-Takato had said the night before and wondering what exactly she could do. Obviously, she wouldn't tell anyone but she didn't like the idea of being a huge drain on the group by just sitting around and doing nothing while they were all risking their lives. She wanted to help out too! But how could she do that? She wasn't like them, she didn't have a partner or a digivice. So what else was there?

She supposed she could bring drinks and snacks. But that wasn't going to be particularly useful until the fight was over. Walking along, she stopped at the window to a game store and saw booster packs for that digimon card game they were always playing. Of course! She could provide these in the heat of a fight! What else was there? It would suck that she'd have to spend some of her allowance but she had no problem with that if she could use it to help out. Not right now though. She still had to get to class.

* * *

When the bell rang to let out school for the day, Henry hurriedly grabbed his bag and made his way down to Takato and Juri's classroom. He'd had all night to think about what not-Takato had said and, regardless of if any of it was true, the fact was that he and Terriermon were partners now. He had a responsibility to help as many people as he could and he had no intention of doing nothing while innocents were hurt. Especially if more of those Devas were going to be on the way.

He arrived to their classroom to see Kazu, Kenta, and Juri waiting outside the class as their classmates hurried home. Kazu complained, "Man, leave it to Takato to get into trouble again."

"Shouldn't we call him Tamer now?" Kenta asked quietly, although he was ignored by the others.

"What happened this time?" Henry asked, adjusting his backpack carefully. Kazu thumbed inside where their teacher was busy scolding Takato, drearily explaining, "The guy set off a smoke bomb in class for some reason. He had a bag full of 'em!"

"Where'd he even get that smoke bomb in the first place?" Kenta asked curiously, trying to peer back into the classroom. Juri shook her head, "Who knows. What's taking them so long? Last time she just had him write an apology letter. What do you suppose she's doing in there?"

"Maybe she's going to make him stay after class for the rest of the year and clean up by himself?" Kazu mused, only to be punched by Kenta, "Don't joke about that, man!"

Henry peered into the classroom while they kept talking. It was hard to miss now that he was looking at her - that teacher looked like an older Kari Kamiya. In fact, now that he was looking at the name plate over the classroom, he noticed the name kept...shifting. Changing. One second he would read it as Asaji, the next it would read Kamiya, and sometimes it would appear like a jumble between the two. It was still hard to believe that a digidestined had been a few steps away from him all this time.

* * *

Kari looked down at Takato with his open bag on her desk. Full of smoke bombs and baggies of what looked like day old bread. She massages her temple in confusion while trying it understand what would possess one of her students to even have this kind of thing. She wasn't even sure where to start with punishing him, on top of all the other stuff that was happening right now. But she couldn't let this slide - it was her responsibility as his teacher to make sure he was properly disciplined for this kind of behavior. Still, the annoying part came first. He had to explain himself and she prepared herself for whatever ridiculous answer he had, "So...what is your reason this time Takato?"

He looked up innocently enough as he began offering his justification, "Would you believe I'm trying to protect this world and another world from monsters with the help of some friends, some of whom are also monsters?"

She wasn't prepared for that answer. And with so many of his obvious lies in the past, she wasn't exactly sure how to accept that answer. Then again, with all the stories running on the news lately, she was sure he was just trying to get away with his prank by using one of the plots from TK's books as an excuse. But perhaps it was the familiarity of that made her second guess her usual compunction to just slam him over the head with the rule book, "What?"

"Yeah, I didn't think that would work," he frowned sheepishly, "It was for a prank that I was going to pull in the park. Sorry, it was me. I'm the one sneaking around the park at night causing all the problems. I'm sorry."

That lie was somehow less believable than the first. Especially between the kids she caught last night and the digimon. She groaned at the realization that he specifically might be involved in all of this. Still, she couldn't let him know that, "Takato, is this something from one of those digimon books and shows that you and your friends are so hooked on?"

"Would it be any less damning if I say no?" Takato asked, looking at her like he was trying to read her. She made it loud and clear through her grimace that it wasn't and she began, "Takato, I don't care why you brought it in - you can't have smoke bombs in school. And...look, what are you really up to?"

"Cleaning up a mess I think I helped make," he answered nonchalantly. Once again, Kari had no idea how to take that but a suspicion began to grown on her. One that made her uneasy. She asked calmly, "Takato...is there something you're not telling me?"

He looked up at her, scratching the back of his head nervously, "If I said digimon are real...would you believe me?"

"No," she said sternly to avoid suspicion. He nodded, "Didn't think so. So let's go with my second answer: I'm the trouble make responsible for all the problems at the park."

She wasn't going anywhere with this. And she still had other things she had to do. She massaged her forehead, "Look...just don't do it again. Now get out of here."

He nodded, zipping up his bag and heading for the door. Before he even walked out, he stopped and asked, "By the way, Miss Kamiya?"

Kari looked his way, half expecting him to be making some kind of mocking face at her. Instead he pointed at her brother's old coat hanging off her chair and asked, "Where'd you get that coat?"

"It's a memento from my brother," she answered calmly, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Bye!" he said, turning on his heels to leave the classroom. Kari thought about it for a minute and scratched her head. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks to the face. He had started wearing those damn yellow goggles of his. She didn't think much of it at the time but was it possible that...no. It couldn't have been? Could it? No, he was...but he said she may not recognize him the next time she saw him. But...no...unless...

There was only one way to be sure. She reached for her brother's old coat and threw it on, packing her work bag and quietly waiting for the students to leave. It would be bad if she was caught so she threw up the hood too to keep her face hidden. If her suspicions were right, the phone call would have to wait. Because it seemed the solution to all their problems was sitting in her classroom.

* * *

"So what did Miss Asaji...I mean Kamiya say, Takato...I mean, Tamer?" Juri asked as soon as he got out of the classroom, still struggling with all the right terminology. He shrugged, "Made me promise not to do it again and told me to get out. And just Takato is fine."

"Why'd you bring all of this stuff anyway?" Kazu asked, pointing at his bag. Takato frowned, "I was trying to see how much of this altered reality she was aware of. If I just flat out tell her, her gut instinct would be to ignore it as a form of self-preservation. Lower life forms don't like to accept things they don't understand. Especially if it'll fry their brains. No offense."

"None taken?" Henry asked more than said. Takato went on, "So I tried to present her with a strange scenario to see how she'd react. I didn't realize until after the fact that she may be so used to me doing so many weird things that this wouldn't surprise her. I'll need to rethink my approach. Speaking of...we probably shouldn't talk about this out loud. Park?"

"Park," they all said in agreement as they started their way out of the school building and towards the shed. Kazu cheerfully added, "Man, you must be really wearing her down if she's just making you promise not to do all this crazy stuff anymore."

Then he ran in front of the group so he could wag a finger at him, "Shame on you. Better hope she doesn't change her mind and call your not-parents."

"Don't make me think about that," Takato frowned, adjusting his backpack and asking, "So...have you guys made up your minds?"

"You bet and you better believe we're not sitting this out for anything, Takato," Kazu cheered excitedly, "We still haven't even got to see a real digimon fight! You can count us in with whatever stupid thing you've got going on."

"That's right. We may not have digimon, but don't count us out," Kazu added cheerfully. Juri nodded in solemn agreement, reaching into her pocket to produce a couple of booster packs, "I don't get how the game works but...I can still bring spare cards to all the fights. Anything to help!"

"What about you, Henry?" Takato looked over at the boy from the other class who nodded solemnly, "I'm still not sure."

"That sucks," Takato folded his arms, "Tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow," Henry repeated with a nod. Juri turned her head, "Why tomorrow?"

Kazu slapped her back, "Don't you get it? Those crazy digimon could show up any minute to do who knows what! We need to be ready for them no matter what!"

Now it was Henry's turn to chime in, "Speaking of that, Mihiramon said he was after the Catalyst but I don't remember if you ever said: what's the Catalyst?"

Takato scratched his head again, his face looking like it was trying to remember but that only made him have to massage the side of his head, "It's an energy source...something to do with...a firewall. It's supposed to be able to...grant unbelievable power to...sorry, I'm having trouble getting my head straight."

"Headaches?" Juri asked sheepishly, "You could take an aspirin."

Takato waved it off quietly, "Doesn't help. But I think we'll know if another one shows up. Our digivices go crazy any time one of them tries so that's a good warning system."

"But if the digivices warn you, why bother with the patrol?" Juri pointed out. Kazu and Kenta jumped on that right away, although they looked more like they hadn't even considered that, "Hey, that's right! Why are we patrolling?"

Takato turned on his heel, walking backwards while still talking, "Because there are plenty of digimon we've run into who didn't set off the digivice. Which means it doesn't always detect them. I don't know if it just can't detect smaller ones, if some digimon are too weak to be detected, if they just showed up too far away, or if anything else is the reason. All I know is we need to be ready in case another one does show up. I mean...who's to say that Mihiramon was the first Deva to come through. There could be more already running around."

"Okay, so where should we start this patrol then?" Juri asked, noticing Takato suddenly start beaming proudly, "There's this old neighborhood called Highton View Terrace. If we go by the book series, that's where the most digimon show up. So I say we start there!"

"You're getting your information from the books," Kazu repeated quietly, sharing the disbelief the others had. Takato nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Why? Because if you're getting skeptical, Kari is our teacher."

"Well, you guys have fun with this. I need to get going," Henry answered, checking his watch before hurrying off to go meet with his dad.

"What should we tell Terriermon?" Juri shouted after him, realizing his partner while still with Guilmon.

"Moumantai!" Henry shouted back.

* * *

Rika sat in the subway with her mom, awaiting their train. As much as she hated it, her mom was dragging her off to another photoshoot. Part of her wondered if her mom actually thought bringing her to work would help them 'bond'. Because it wasn't working. And the fact that her mom kept trying to make it work was driving her up a wall. She hated modeling. Most of all, she hated having to wear all those frilly pink clothes in front of all those people. The fact that many of them said she looked cute that way also didn't help. But part of her also realized that this was another point in the favor of her mom being Mimi. As she recalled, Mimi went on to be a model for her friend in the books. If only she could remember the name of her mom's friend - then she'd know if the friend was the same person.

She was sure her mom was too busy on the phone to notice she was staring, rattling on about work, "We're waiting for the train. We'll be there in about ten minutes, how does that sound? Sure, and then we can get ready for the shoot. Oh definitely! Ruki will love the new clothes! Oh, I'm sure. Because I'm her mother, that's why."

Rika rolled her eyes and began shuffling through her digimon cards, examining each one carefully to make sure she understood what each did. Then her attention was caught by her digivice going off at loud intervals. Before she could even reach for it, she noticed a thick fog roll into the subway station from one end of the tunnel, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

She stepped towards the platform, noticing her mother didn't even seem to care that she had gotten off the bench and joined everyone else in the station now peering down the tunnel at the oncoming fog where two red lights slowly made their way closer. Then faster. And it hissed. Rika jumped back just as a giant silver cobra slithered past at full speed. Her jaw fell open in disbelief. A digimon here in the Shinjuku subway station. At rush hour. She could hear her mother panicking behind her, "What the hell was that? Ruki! Ruki? RUKI!?"

Her mom started panicking, looking for her in the crowd. Oh, now she cared. She groaned and hurriedly leapt onto the tracks, chasing after the serpent. Her mom could panic a little longer. Maybe then she'd stop thinking about fashion for a few minutes to think about her. Once she was far enough way from the station, she quietly called out, "Renamon?"

"I'm here, Rika. Or should I say Ruki?" her partner said from behind her, making her jump. Rika wanted to smack her for using that name but they had bigger fish to fry, "We need to get after that digimon. Do you think you can digivolve again?"

Renamon took a battle stance and declared, "I can try. Renamon! Digivolve to!"

Nothing happened. That was just her luck. Rika would have to think of something else and she had plenty of time to do that while they chased after the thing, "Damn! Don't worry. I'll think of something."

* * *

"Again!" Henry's sensei called out. He closed his eyes, took a deep breathe, and repeated the motions he'd performed a dozen times. One foot forward, then another, arms up, fist forward, keeping balance at all times. When he reached his finishing step, he looked up at his sensei and awaited his judgment. He was sure he got the motions right this time and that he'd kept good form. Until he felt a sweep kick strike his leg - knocking him flat on his back. His sensei sighed, "You're still keeping all your weight on one leg. It's far too easy to knock you over."

"I'm sorry, Hida-sensei," he apologized. Cody Hida - his martial arts teacher. By some miracle, the guy was a master of kendo, tai chi, karate, and aikido while also finding time to be a lawyer. And somewhere along the lines, he and his dad became friends - bonding over their mutual enjoyment of tai chi. Something his dad was hoping he would start to enjoy. In all fairness, most days it felt more like a chore than a hobby for fun. He took Hida-sensei's hand and bowed, "Thank you."

"Go take a rest," he answered, calling out the next student. Henry joined his father who'd been watching with a small smile from the side lines, "You still favor the left."

"I'm trying to unlearn a bad habit," Henry answered, watching Hida-sensei guide another student through the same set of motions. His dad asked, "You've been a little distracted lately, Henry. Is something the matter? It's not about that girl, was it?"

Henry hated how his dad was good at reading things like that. But he didn't want to tell him the truth. The real truth about the digimon. What was he supposed to say? Digimon are real, there's an army of them coming, and now he and some kids from school are the only ones who could stop it. Yeah, that'd go over well. His dad patted his head, "If you're frustrated about that technique, I wouldn't worry about it. It took me a while to learn the final stance properly."

"It's not that dad," Henry frowned, "I was just thinking…well, have you ever been in a position you didn't want to be in? Like...you knew what you had to do, but you didn't want to do it? Or...um...well, that you didn't have to?"

His dad didn't answer, suddenly finding the training a lot more interesting than anything else. After a long pause, he answered, "Yes, I did. In the end, the decision was made for me. There are times where I think about what could've been. But there's also the chance that your mother and I wouldn't be together. And I don't regret that for a second."

* * *

Juri watched from the side as Takato began feeding Terriermon and Guilmon bread with jam and peanut butter. Guilmon devoured the food like it wasn't going to disappear, but Terriermon ate more slowly. Juri patter his head and asked, "What's wrong, Terriermon?"

"Just wondering where Henry is," he admitted quietly, "And wondering why he's not here."

Kazu threw his arms behind his head and answered, "He had Tai Chi practice. If you ask me, he just chickened our and didn't want anything to do with this."

"Don't listen to him. He still can't hear Miss Kamiya's name," Kenta pointed out. Kazu rolled his eyes, "If you guys don't stop with that Miss Asaji thing, I'm going to deck someone."

Terriermon set down his loaf of bread, "I wanna say I'm surprised. For some reason, he just doesn't have his heart in fighting for some reason. He says it's because he doesn't want to see anyone get hurt."

"He's a pacifist," Takato spoke up quietly, handing more bread from his bag to Guilmon, "Makes sense. He probably doesn't want to cause any one harm. I don't either."

Terriermon's frown stayed on his face, "Is that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Just making an observation. Give him time. He'll figure it out. Besides," Takato turned to look Terriermon in the eye, "Moumantai."

The little digimon's ears perked up and he returned to eating his bread. It was a relief to see the little guy smile again, especially eating like he normally would. Just as Takato went to get him another slice of bread, Guilmon peered into the bag and retrieved a smoke bomb, "What's that, Takatomon? Is it food?"

"These are smoke bombs!" Takato said cheerily, holding up the bag for all of them to see. Kazu asked, "So why did you bring all that to school anyway? I know you said to test Miss Asaji but that can't have been the only reason."

"We can use these when we have to fight more strong digimon like Mihiramon," Takato answered knowledgeably, "Throw them to make distractions, even cover an escape if we need to get away. Because the last thing we need is to get stuck in a fight like we did with Mihiramon."

As he spoke, Juri noticed Guilmon grab one of the smoke bombs from out of the bag and give it a sniff. Kazu and Kenta were so busy listening to Takato explain that they hadn't even noticed. And before Juri could even try to warn them-

BAMF!

Guilmon threw it in his mouth and took a bite, coughing and gagging as the white smoke poured out of his mouth, "EW! Nasty! It doesn't taste like bread! Water! I need water!"

Terriermon giggled at Guilmon's mistake, even as smoke filled the shed. Memories filled Juri's mind of earlier that day, recalling how the entire class had to run outside in a panic when one of these went off earlier. This was no different as she, Kazu and Kenta hurried outside to get clear of the smoke filling the shed. Terriermon trotted outside casually with Takato just behind him trying to drag a flailing Guilmon. Then Takato groaned, "Guilmon! You're not supposed to eat them!"

"They looked better than they tasted," the red digimon whined, "It's not my fault! Takatomon!"

As Takato helped the digimon with a bottle of water, his digivice went off like a loud fire alarm. Takato threw his goggles on and inspected his digivice, "It's another one: a snake. Oh, that's not good. It says it's moving towards us. Everyone get clear!"

They all scattered in different directions and waited, only to see nothing but smoke billowing out of the shed. Juri looked from the direction Takato point to him, wondering what was taking so long, "Where is it?"

"That's weird. It says it passed us," Takato said, pointing in the opposite direction, "And that it's...still going."

"But there's nothing there," Kazu pointed out, "Your digivice is on the fritz! Give it a couple of good hits and it'll be back to working in no time!"

"I don't think that's the problem," Kenta pointed out, peering over Takato's shoulder to look at the screen, "Remember last night? The digivice only pointed in the direction of the monster, but it was several stories in the air."

"There's nothing up there, doofus," Kazu said, scanning the skies. But Juri was sure she understood what Kenta was trying to say. It wasn't above them. It was beneath them. She shook Takato and pointed at the ground, "What about below us? The subway!"

"Oh. Oh boy. Crap," Takato spat out, running towards the stairs, stopping and running back into the shed. He came back out with the box for his partner and his backpack, throwing the box over Guilmon and stating, "We're going to find the nearest subway entrance. Kazu, come with me, I'll need your help. Kenta! Juri! Can you guys go get Henry? We'll need his help!"

"On it," Juri nodded, happy to helpful in some way. She scooped up Terriermon and hurried off with Kenta, hearing Takato say, "Kazu, take some smoke bombs. He moves fast so we'll need to move even quicker if we want to stay one step ahead of this guy."

"Got it!"

* * *

Calumon hopped along the subway platform, amused by the various tall humans going about their day in such a rush. A few of them stopped to look at him, mistaking him for a rabbit and trying to pick him up before he ran away. Some even chased after but he always lost them in the crowds. The humans could be so odd at times. They all looked like they were in such a rush to go wherever they were heading, but none of them looked like they were having fun. They looked miserable.

It just didn't make sense to the little digimon. Why bother doing something if you hated doing it? He just couldn't understand them.

It didn't help when they all started screaming at the top of their lungs and running in one direction. That only affirmed to him that they were strange. They ran as fast and as far as they could away from something, but Calumon could hardly see what with all the legs running past him. One even kicked him over before he had a chance to ask why they were all screaming. He just rolled along until he came to a stop by one of the soda machines the humans loved and hid behind it to get out of the way of the mad panic.

Staring through the crowds, he finally got an idea why. There was a large, pale serpent moving through the subway station and hissing at everything in sight. Maybe that was why they were so freaked out. And maybe he should hide for a minute.

* * *

Henry came out of the locker room dressed in his casual clothes, just a bit ahead of his dad. His sensei was already bidding the remaining students farewell as they left. His sensei had always been so willing to help his students whenever they were in trouble. Maybe he could ask him for advice on this? Especially since his dad hadn't exactly given the most helpful advice. He looked back over his shoulder before approaching his sensei - he didn't want his dad to hear about any of this. He wanted to wait until all the others had left, but it didn't matter because his sensei had already noticed him, "Is something the matter, Henry?"

"Sensei, I wanted to ask you a question, if that's alright. If…you found yourself in a position that you didn't want to be in…and you knew what you had to do but it was something you didn't want to do, what would you do?" Henry began. He probably sounded like a stupid little kid for asking that question. Especially asking it that way. To his amazement, his sensei was surprisingly understanding about it, "I'd probably ask what brought this up Henry? Is something the matter?"

Henry's mind raced, trying to come up with an answer to his remark, "I was just thinking, sensei. You know the digimon show right? What if it were all real? They'd be dangerous, wouldn't they? But what if it was in your power to help stop it? And you were the only one who could? Would you stop it. Even if you didn't want to fight…or see anyone you care about get hurt?"

His sensei closed his eyes. He was expecting a lecture about being a delusional little kid, not that he could blame his sensei for it. He probably sounded insane right now. But his sensei continued to surprise, "First, I'd try to remember that digimon are living, breathing creatures with their own wants and needs. They have hopes, fears, and goals. Second of all, I'd hope they could be reasoned with but I'd try to remember that more harm can come from inaction than actual action."

"What?" Henry asked, unsure of that answer. His sensei scratched his head and chuckled, "I suppose it would be hard to wrap your head around. Let me try explaining it like this: if it were in your power to help someone else, then doing nothing would be worse than to do something if it wasn't in your power. You may not want to see anyone get hurt, but would you be more comfortable watching them get hurt anyway? Your decision to do nothing, may result in harm to the people you care about anyway. In the end, the intention is what's important. Do you understand?"

"Not really," Henry shook his head, still trying to make heads or tails of what he was saying. His sensei laughed, "I'm sorry, I've always been better at being contemplative than explaining moral quandaries like this. Let me borrow a phrase from a comic book: with great power comes great responsibility."

"What?" Henry repeated flatly. What did that even mean?

"Henry!"

Juri and Kenta came running up to the dojo entrance, panting for breath as they stopped. Henry was surprised to see them here, especially since he didn't think they knew where his dojo was. And even more surprising was Terriermon in Juri's arms, looking jostled but trying his hardest to pretend to be a doll. Juri looked up first and exclaimed, "Thank goodness we found you."

Kenta whispered in his ear, or tried to as he heaved for breath between words, "Digimon. Subway. Help."

"Crap," Henry said aloud, realizing the decision was going to be made for him whether he liked it or not. Then it occurred to him he probably shouldn't have sworn in front of his sensei. He bowed to his teacher, "I'm sorry sensei. I have to go."

"I'm sure you do," he nodded with a smile, staring at Terriermon curiously. Henry nervously hoped his sensei wasn't a fan of digimon, or at least wasn't trying to piece together anything he'd said. He felt bad for ditching his dad since he was still wasn't out of the lockers but he needed to make his excuses quick, "Could you tell my dad Im sorry but I had to leave early?"

"I'll be sure to tell him. Now get going," his sensei nodded towards the door.

* * *

Rika and Renamon caught up the giant serpent in time to see it slithering out onto a large terminal station. People fled in a panic to escape the monstrosity slithering onto the platform, coiling on itself and hissing, "Where isssssss he? Mihiramon, you incompetent…you were ssssssupposssssed to herald ussssss. Where did you go?"

It knew Mihiramon. Was this another one of the Devas? If it was, they weren't going to stand a chance alone. But she couldn't go find the others without leaving this thing by itself. And then who knew what it was going to do. It went against every instinct she had but they were going to have to face it alone. She whispered, "Can you digivolve Renamon?"

"I can try...hurgh," Renamon made a noise like she was constipated before grunting, "It's not working. Do you have any other plans?"

"Just one," Rika ran behind a pillar and opened up her card holder to examine her deck. But she had nothing that would be useful in a straight fight with this new digimon - speed wouldn't do much good in such an enclosed space, and a strength boost would do nothing to close the difference between them. Accuracy maybe? Maybe an item that Renamon could use? No. Without digivolving to the champion form, there was just too much of a gap.

"I know you're here, human," the serpent hissed, "I can...sssssssmell you and your friend. I hunger."

"Rika, run!" Renamon called out in a panic. It was too late. Despite his size, the serpent moved surprisingly fast and had already coiled around her, leering down at her from above. Rika pressed against the pillar, realizing her last moments may be the smell of this things breath. Thankfully, Renamon charged in and fired a barrage of diamonds, "Diamond Storm!"

The attack did nothing, and the snake seemed to just shake the attack off. Scared for her life, Rika stepped back from the ever enclosing mouth until there was a loud pop and smoke. Rika covered her mouth and nose, watching the serpent hiss angrily before it retreated away. Then Renamon appeared, took her arms, and pulled her to safety through the smoke, "Are you okay, Rika?"

"I'm fine," Rika coughed, feeling the smoke burn her throat, "Did you do that?"

"HEY! SAN…SAN...what was it? Forget it. HEY! SANDY! OVER HERE!?"

That was the goggle head's voice. What was normally contempt was instead replaced with relief.

"That thing's name is Sandy?"

And then it became annoyance. It was Takato and his friend Kazu, standing at the stairs as with Guilmon charged straight in for a fight. The serpent hissed at them, "I am SSSSSSSandiramon, and you will tremble at my power human. Who are you to addresssssss me assss anything elssse?"

"I dunno, I think Sandy works better," Kazu chuckled, "EAT THIS!"

He lobbed another smoke bomb at the serpent, blinding it but also giving Renamon the opening she needed to pull Rika to their side on the platform. Rika scowled at that, "What do you think you're doing!? Are you trying to make him angrier? What took you so long any way?"

"It took us a while to realize it was underground, and even longer to find a subway entrance," Takato answered sheepishly. There wasn't any more time to berate him though, as Sandiramon emerged through the smoke with his mouth wide open. Everyone leapt out of the way of its massive maw in time for it to crash head first into the subway wall, shaking the entire structure in the process. Kazu pointed out, "Maybe we shouldn't fight this thing in the subway tunnel? It'll come crashing down of us if it's not careful!"

"Kazu, you genius!" Takato shouted ecstatically, grabbing the boy by the face and pulling it alarmingly close to his own. Rika looked away in sickened disgust but she could tell what was happening. Especially when Kazu blurted out, "DUDE! WHAT THE HELL!?"

"What? Is that weird?" Takato asked sheepishly as Kazu berated, "Yeah! Don't pull any of that girly stuff on me!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rika turned on him angrily, noting Kazu's face shifting from disgust to absolute terror. He stammered, "I'm just saying, that he's acting weird! You're acting more like a guy than he is and he's not- why are you walking this way? Please don't."

Rika made sure she kicked him as hard as he could between the legs, taking great joy in watching him fall over backwards on the ground. Takato immediately covered himself and said, "I'm glad you call me names instead."

"Are you quite done, humanssss?" Sandiramon hissed, reminding all of them that he was still present. Takato frowned, "Oh right, you're still here. Right...um...anyone have a plan?"

"I have one: eat you, digest, and then go find Mihiramon," Sandiramon answered. Rika cursed her luck, wondering what they should do next and realizing she didn't have any. Not without Renamon able to digivolve. This didn't stop Takato from running his mouth though, "Sorry to burst your bubble but Mihiramon's gone."

"Why would you tell him that?" Rika snapped angrily, not wanting to know what Sandiramon was thinking now. Then Takato managed to bungle his way into making it worse, "I thought you'd like to brag about how you did it."

"WHY WOULD YOU TELL HIM _THAT_!?" Rika became even angrier, trying to ignore the violent roaring hiss that Sandiramon had just made in their direction. She wanted to throttle this kid more than Kazu at that moment, shaking him by the collar of his hoodie, "What's your plan!? To get him to eat me?"

"I wanted to make him angry," Takato said, looking over at the giant hissing digimon just as it prepared to strike. He readied another smoke bomb in his hand and winked at her, "RUN!"

Rika noticed Sandiramon about to strike and let go of Takato. He dropped the smoke bomb and they scattered in different directions. Rika stuck close to Renamon so that they wouldn't get separated, following her back out onto the tracks and asking, "What is that goggle head thinking?"

As the smoke cleared, she could see the dent Sandiramon had made in the wall of the platform and the cracks on one of the pillars. No. He couldn't be that stupid. He wanted to bring the station down on top of the giant snake. The idea was genius, sure - they couldn't out power Sandiramon so this could work. There was the just a tiny problem in the form of they were stuck in the subway with Sandiramon! And bringing the subway down would probably open up a giant sink hole in the city above. She shouted, "GOGGLE HEAD! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET EVERYONE KILLED!?"

"DO YOU HAVE A BETTER PLAN!?" Takato's voice echoed back. She could vaguely make out his outline throwing another smoke bomb and a flash of red light illuminated the smoke, "PYRO SPHERE!"

All she could make out now were flashes of the outline of Sandiramon. Then another voice called out. Henry's voice, "We're here! Sorry we're late!"

"We hurried as fast as we could!" Juri's voice added.

"It's crazy out there! We had to sneak past cops just to get in here!" Kenta's voice joined them.

Oh no. They were running straight into the mess that the goggle head had just made. And there was no way to warn them of the danger they were in. Rika shouted, "GUYS! BE CAREFUL!"

Then Terriermon's voice shouted, "Careful of wha-AAAAGGGHHH! THAT IS A BIG SNAKE!"

"GUYS! LOOK OUT!"

There was too much smoke. Rika couldn't see clearly any more. All she could see was the vague outlines through flashes of red light. She grunted, "Renamon! You have to help them! Get Juri and the dweeb out of there!"

"Right," Renamon was about to charge into the smoke but stopped, "Which one's the dweeb?"

Rika shook her head, "Does it matter? They both suck! Just get them out of there!"

"Got it!" Renamon disappeared into the smoke and ran off to rescue the others. It was impossible to see through the smoke but then she saw a bright flash of light mixed into the smoke. The light was so blinding that Rika had to close her eyes, but she couldn't miss the cries of their digimon.

"Renamon! Digivolve to! Kyubimon!"

"Guilmon! Digivolve to! Growlmon!"

"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"

Their digimon digivolved? How? She hadn't done anything...but it'd just happened. But there was no denying what she saw when the smoke cleared. All three of their digimon were now at the champion level. But there was something else - something small scurrying away from the fight. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she hadn't imagined it but something small scampered off into the darkness of the tunnel. She blinked, "Was that Calumon?"

"RIKA!" Kuyubimon shouted, now carrying Juri, Kazu, and Kenta on her back, "Stay safe! I'll be back in a moment."

She disappeared up the stairs and out of the subway station, leaving her with Sandiramon. Unfortunately, the serpent didn't see Kyubimon disappear up the steps and instead charged her. Rika yelped and dove out of the way, hitting the nearby railroad tracks and groaning even harder. It hurt, but it was nowhere near as bad as having to be in front of that thing's fangs. She picked herself up and ran through the smoke, seeing Gargomon and a hunched over Growlmon run past. Somewhere in the thick of it, Takato shouted, "GUYS! TAKE OUT THE SUPPORT COLUMNS!"

Still with that plan? He had to be crazy. There was no other explanation. Gunfire from Gargomon and fire from Growlmon erupted behind her as she limped her way through the smoke. Debris fell all around her: light fixtures, pieces of tiles and cement, and even dirt as the ceiling started to give under the weight. She hurried to get out of the way and rejoined with Henry and Takato. Henry gave her a hand to help her keep steady and asked, "What exactly is he doing?"

"The idiot wants to bring the entire subway tunnel down on top of us!" Rika explained angrily just as she heard Sandiramon hiss again through the fog. Takato lopped another smoke bomb straight into the station, clouding the fight even further and then silence followed by foot steps. Kyubimon galloped out of the smoke and stopped beside them, "I'm glad you're alright."

"Where are the others?" Henry asked anxiously and Kyubimon answered, "I took them out of the subway. What now?"

"This," Takato said, walking ahead of the group and shouting into the smoke, "Growlmon! Gargomon! Come back!"

More footsteps. Rika felt Henry tense up as he turned like he was getting ready to run when their partners emerged through the smoke. Growlmon whined, "Takatomon, it's too hard to move in here."

"Hang in there, and take out this pillar on my mark," he gestured towards the pillar beside him. The smoke was clearing now and Sandiramon was just ahead of him. He hissed, "I tire of thesssssse gamessss, humansssss. You will pay for your crimessssss againsssssssst Mihiramon. Sssurrender now or sssuffer my wrath."

Takato interrupted its warning, "First things first: Why are you looking for the Catalyst in this world? It should be in the Digital World at all times but you're looking for it here. Why? Second, and this is important, tell the other Devas to stop attacking everything as soon as you come through. It's not helping. We can help but first you need to stop-"

"THE DEVASSS DO NOT TAKE ORDERSSS FROM YOU!"

"-attacking everything you see when you show up. It's freaking people out. Also, don't interrupt me. It's rude," Takato finished with folded arms. Sandiramon paused, examining Takato carefully, "Who are you?"

"The Digimon Tamer," Takato paused as he scratched his head, "But I guess you can call me Takato. The point is I'm a Guardian. Or an Ancient if you prefer. I want to know what's going on in the Digital World."

"The Guardiansss of Dessstiny are a dead race, human. Dusssty politicianssss from a bygone era. Do not pretend to be one. We digimon mussst protect ourssselvesss. And humansss needn't concern themssselvesss with our affairsss," Sandiramon hissed, "You've been a nuisssance enough. Now you die."

"I'm warning you, Sandy!" Takato said with a pointed finger, "I don't want to destroy you but I will if I have to. And I really don't want to. We want to help. We can. Let us. But first tell us what's going on!"

"DIE!" Sandiramon roared, flying at them.

"Growlmon!" Takato shouted. On command, Growlmon broke the last pillar and the subway shook. Sandiramon stopped in its tracks, looking up in time to see a large chunk of ceiling come crashing down on top of it, along with more rubble and dirt. They didn't stay to see all of it though as they retreated away into the subway tunnel to get away from the collapsing debris.

Rika couldn't believe it. The goggle head actually did it. Worse, he probably did so much worse to everything above. She turned on him and shouted, "What were you doing, goggle-"

She paused when she noticed the defeated look in his eyes; a familiar face she'd only ever seen in her mom. Some kind of regret that he was trying his damnedest not to show to anyone. He looked at her and said, "I didn't want to do it. I wanted to reason with him. I..."

"Well that killed the mood," Gargomon commented, "Now what?"

"Takatomon, I'm hungry," Growlmon whimpered. Takato kicked some dirt under his shoe and answered, "Yeah, you guys probably worked up an appetite. Mom and dad throw out all the old bread that didn't sell today. I'll grab it and you guys can help yourselves."

"YAY!" Growlmon cheered excitedly, his voice echoing down the tunnel. As they all turned to leave, Gargomon commented, "So it's just stale bread?"

"Better than nothing," Henry answered, pointing ahead of the subway tunnel, "Come on. The next station is a mile that way."

* * *

Kari felt her heart skip a beat in delighted surprise as she looked on from the other end of the collapsed tunnel. The last thing she saw before the tunnel collapsed was another large digimon hissing at something through the smoke. But there was no mistaking that in the confusion, she'd heard the words Ancient and Tamer. Short for Digimon Tamer. What else could it mean?

She wanted to believe that she wasn't mishearing. That her brother was back. But she couldn't just go off hunches or echoing voices in the tunnel. She needed more concrete evidence. She sighed and turned to walk back the way she came, intent on keeping an eye on her most troublesome student in the future. Just the thought that her brother might've been back sparked something she hadn't felt in a long time. A light hearted feeling.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two Devas down, lord knows how many more to go! Can they continue their fight or will they be over run by the Devas? Is Kari realizing who Takato is? And just what is going on in the Digital World? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next week at 8 PM CDT. If you loved it show your support by favoriting the story and let me know what you guys think in the reviews section! I try to reply as soon as I can. And hey, don't forget to follow to keep up with the latest updates! That's all for now! Let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "You want to smuggle Guilmon onto the school field trip. I'm not asking, I'm repeating it back to you because I want to be sure you hear how crazy that sounds."
> 
> "How hard could it be?" Juri asked, turning head towards Kazu and Kenta who simultaneously answered, "VERY!"
> 
> Kazu added, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but he's a giant dinosaur. He's not going to be easy to disguise. And it's not like we can just put him inside one of the boxes. Everyone's going to ask what we're doing with a box that big!"
> 
> "Not if we sneak him in on a bag," Juri said with a great big smile on her face.


	15. Rooster's Come to Roost

 

\Sora finished stitching the last bit of fabric together and took a step back to see her design with a smile, relieved to see it all coming together. Now was a good time to take a break, so she stepped out of her office to make some coffee and maybe check her emails before getting back to it. As soon as she got out into the kitchen, she heard the front door open and saw her husband come in - Yamato Ishida. Without a word, he came right up to her and gave her a long impassioned kiss, "I missed you."

"I missed you too," she said back, "Any luck?"

"Nothing. Ken's still trying to figure out the password to TK's laptop. Other than that, nothing. And there's been less luck finding Izzy," he answered. She nodded understandingly and guided him into the kitchen, "Well, I just got some coffee going. Have a seat and we can talk about it."

Sora examined her husband as he took several long gulps from his coffee, wondering if he'd ever find his brother or Izzy. Once he seemed to have collected himself, he sighed, "I just…I just wish I could understand what was going through his head before he disappeared. He became so…reclusive. He was always the introspective type but he never shied away from going out. I hope he's alright."

Sora placed her hand on his to try and calm him down, hoping she could reach her husband if she held his hand long enough. She quietly added, "We'll find him, Matt."

He smiled at her, his tired eyes sparkling like the first time they went on a date. The mood was interrupted only by a sudden knock at the door. She let herself hold his hand a little longer before she went to the door and saw Kari through the peep hole, "It's Kari!"

"Kari?" he repeated as she opened the door to let the younger woman in, "Kari! What're you doing here?"

She seemed hassled, covered in a fine layer of dust that she tried to wipe off. Weirder was the fact that she was wearing her brother's jacket again. She frantically explained, "I'm sorry, Sora. I just didn't know who else to tell! I mean, what if it's true? What if he's back? It can't be real!"

"Kari, calm down," she said, pressing a finger to her lips and adding, "Take a deep breath and calmly tell us whatever you need to tell us!"

Kari nodded, taking a few deep breaths before going on, "I think Ta...I mean The Digimon Tamer is back. I'm not one hundred percent sure yet."

Sora didn't expect to hear that and looked at Matt skeptically. His expression soured at the name and he got up out of the kitchen to ask, "What gave you this idea Kari?"

Kari started talking excitedly again, "One of my students did something weird today in school, so I followed him after classes let out. He met up with a bunch of friends and went to the park, nothing too weird about that. Until, and I'm not sure because of all the smoke, but I think I found him with a digimon. So I followed them again as they ran off and they started fighting another digimon! It's on the news now! The subway crash."

Sora vaguely remembered something about a crash in the subway but was skeptical of its connection. She guided Kari into the kitchen and poured her a cup of coffee, hoping it would settle her nerves a little. After a few drinks, Sora asked, "Kari, are you sure about this? No one's seen a digimon in a long time. Not since our partners disappeared."

Kari nodded quietly before adding, "I know it sounds crazy, but maybe it's all connected. I'm going to keep an eye on the student for now until I'm sure but the timing can't be a coincidence. Takeru disappears on the same day as our digimon, and suddenly I get a students who acts weird and is running around with what looks like digimon. So either these kids are a generation xerox of us and Tamer is back, or Tamer is one of those kids. Like I said, I'm not entirely sure. But I had to tell someone and you guys were the first ones that came to mind."

Both Matt and Sora looked at each other anxiously. Was it true? Was Tamer back? And if he was, had more kids just been recruited into whatever chaos was going on in the Digital World?

"There's one other thing," Kari added, "I don't know if you've run into him yet but some government agent guy came by my apartment today. He said he was working for the Ministry of Defense, and he tried to recruit me into working for him."

"He wasn't like those guys in France, was he?" Matt asked, reminding her of their world trip around the world. Kari nodded, "I don't know. But I know I'm not going to let him anywhere near my students and I'm not going to work for him."

Sora examined her carefully, noting a certain spark in Kari's eyes that hadn't been there in a while. Whatever Kari saw, Sora couldn't help but think they were closer to getting their partner's back than before. She got up to retrieve her D-Terminal from her office and began typing away on it. Perhaps it was time for a long overdue team meeting.

* * *

Yamaki hated getting called to meetings at the Minister of Defense's Office. Especially when the Prime Minister of Japan had to be present. Usually, that meant he was going to be reprimanded for something that someone else caused. Which made his headache all the worse when he arrived to see the Prime Minister watching the news on a computer screen. The headline everyone was talking about the accident on the subway. Another screen showed grainy footage of a snake monster rampaging through a subway station that was taken from a security camera.

The Minister of Defense looked at Yamaki with a death glare, something he was able to ignore as the Prime Minister turned to face him, "I hope you're organization has a handle on this Yamaki."

"Cover story is already in place," Yamaki answered as the news reporter answered, "The official statement from investigators is a train derailment that left several injured and caused a station collapse in Shinjuku. Witnesses reporting a giant snake are believed to be suffering from an acute case of post traumatic stress disorder, a condition affecting brain function following a suitably traumatic event. When asked about the footage, officials have stated no snake has been seen among the rubble at the station, only parts of the damaged train. A body was recovered, believed to be the driver. Thankfully, the train was empty at the time of its derailment. This leads to our current issue: are our public transportation representatives overworked and could this happen again?"

Yamaki shot a dirty smile at the Minister of Defense, making sure the Prime Minister didn't see it. The Prime Minister sighed and massaged his temple, "I heard about what happened with the Juggernaut program. How long will it take to get back online?"

"We're not sure," Yamaki admitted, "The lead programmer is still out of action following the explosion in our headquarters, the building is still far from operating at full capacity as repairs are still underway to get vital systems back online. I'm coordinating some of our agents now to track down a team of people I think can help facilitate our operations but it's slow going. Most of our intel on them is either out dated or leads to dead ends."

"This team. Can they get the job done?" the Defense Minister asked. Yamaki nodded silently, "I believe that if we can find them and convince them to join us, half can help fill in the hole left by our lead programmer for the Juggernaut Program, the other half can act as a force multiplier for our field operations. The hard part won't be finding them though, it'll be convincing them to work with us."

"Why wouldn't they?" the Prime Minster asked curiously, leaning in more intently as he added, "This is a matter of national security and there are lives at stake. Surely these people would feel the need to cooperate with us since we're trying to achieve the same goal."

"It's not that simple," Yamaki answered, readying himself for what was sure to be a long meeting.

* * *

A week passed by without another incident, which was good because it meant digimon were no longer passing through to the Real World. She had feared the worst when the subway entrance rumbled and dust shot out of the entrance. Some of the police investigated and found that the tunnel caved in.

Thankfully, everyone had gotten out safely albeit a little shaken. Kazu and Kenta cheered excitedly when they saw the others return, bombarding them with questions about what happened and what they'd missed while the fight unfolded underground. Juri noticed that Takato had become a lot quieter after the fight and a lot more reserved. When she asked him what was wrong, he brushed it off and went home.

His mood stayed the same, and even Kazu and Kenta noticed right away that his attitude had changed. But they didn't have much luck talking to him about it either. In fact, he quietly hurried home after class each day. Juri tried to catch him before he left but he was gone as soon as Miss Kamiya dismissed the class. Kenta of all people came her way afterwards and complained, "Hey, Juri! What gives with Takato? He's been bailing on us all week!"

"How would I know?" Juri asked skeptically, only to have her friend Minami join the conversation, "Why wouldn't you? You two have only been hanging out almost daily. Unless you two got into a fight? Is that why he's bummed?"

"Nah, he's been bummed since the digimon thing in the subway," Kenta said absent-mindedly. He only seemed to realize what he'd said after Kazu smacked him across the back of the head, "Ow! What was that for?"

"Idiot!" Kazu hissed at him while Minami laughed, "Digimon? Subway? Boys are so weird."

They all breathed a sigh of relief that she dismissed Kenta's slip of the tongue. Instead, Minami left that subject behind entirely, "So Juri, finally going to come hang out with us? You got to tell us everything that's been going on!"

"Uh, sure," she nodded while torn on the subject. It had been a while since she'd hung out with her own group of friends and the quiet when it came to digimon appearances was a welcome break. It wouldn't hurt to relax now and then. Besides, she had to kill the rumor that she and Takato were a thing. Or the story that she and Henry were a thing. Then again, holding on to Terriermon probably wasn't helping things.

She and all of her friends went over to Minami's house after school to hang out, lazing around in her room while drinking soda and listening to the radio. It only lasted for a minute before a hush fell over all the girls and Minami asked, "Okay, so spill Juri. Are you or are you not a thing with Takato?"

"No, we're just friends!" Juri stammered out quickly in her defense only to find Yuri pointing out, "Hey, we followed you guys after class one day. Until we lost you in the park. The same park where all the grown ups go after dark."

"You aren't doing anything weird, right?" Minami asked suspiciously, "You've gone with more than just Takato. We've seen you hanging out with Henry, Kazu, and Kenta. You're not becoming like them, are you?"

"No, of course not!" Juri answered, becoming uncomfortable with the questions. Some of them were leaning so far forward that she had to lean back to keep her distance. Of course, this loosened the items in her pocket enough for them to all slide out - mostly digimon cards that she'd been carrying to help out the team if they ever needed it. She went red in the face as soon as they were seen and Minami gasped, "Oh my gosh! Are you playing digimon with the boys?"

"Uh…kinda," Juri admitted sheepishly. The girls looked at each other anxiously, and Juri was sure they were about to exclude her from the group for it. Digimon had always been more of a boy thing than a girl thing. How was she supposed to explain this to them? Then Yuri piped up, "Well, as long as we're being honest…I kinda have some too."

She reached into her backpack and retrieved a small deck of digimon cards, "I kinda thought they were always cute but didn't say anything because I thought none of you guys were into it."

"I have a confession too," another said, producing her own set of digimon cards. Before Juri knew it, they all had a set of digimon cards out and Juri felt foolish for never having one until recently. More so because she never got interested only because no one else seemed particularly interested in them. Then Minami stated, "So we all have a deck. Pfft."

She started giggling. Giggling turned to laughter that spread like wild fire through all the friends and a game broke out between Minami and Yuri before anyone could say anything. As the game played out, Minami stated, "So Juri, are you going to cheer Takato up? I mean he may be just your _boy_ friend, but he's still a friend."

And they were back to the subject of Takato, which wasn't helped by the fact that Minami winked at the end. Juri frowned, "I mean…I don't know. Kazu's right, he's been down since last week."

"Why not start with the school field trip?" Minami asked, "We're all going camping and I bet you anything that something there will cheer him up."

"Yeah, maybe we can do a courage test," another of her friends suggested. Juri really hated where this line of thought was going.

* * *

Henry felt a little embarrassed waiting outside Juri's classroom for her to show up, mostly because he was sure he was causing her a little bit of grief over it. Not to mention any grief his own classmates were giving him over going to another class to talk to a girl. He tried to pay it no mind but knew one of his classmates would have some kind of smart remark for him if they ever saw this.

It didn't help that her own classmates wouldn't stop pointing and whispering as they walked in. The girls giggled and the boys were mocking him. That just made it all the harder to ignore them but it was nothing compared to having to face the Devas. He was just glad none of them had popped up since. Now if only he could crack why Takato had become so quiet since the subway tunnel. He said he was an Ancient or a Guardian or whatever, and that he was familiar with the digimon.

However, it was just as likely that he'd pulled all of that out of the books and tv show. And any fan of the digimon games knew all about that. And if he was telling the truth, how would he be able to tell? None of the Devas they'd met so far recognized him and it wasn't like he'd done much to prove he was besides that weird thing in the shed. Even Renamon wasn't convinced he was being entirely truthful and she seemed the most knowledgable on the subject of The Tamer and the Ancients.

And then he was pulled out of his thoughts by the appearance of a dog puppet in his face, "Woof, Henry. What are you doing here?"

He followed the sock puppet up the arm to Juri smiling at him, "You looked worried. What's up?"

"I wanted to ask if you'd bring Terriermon with you on the field trip," Henry began quietly, "I wanted to get him out more often but couldn't because dad found out about him. Thankfully, mom and dad have forgotten all about it so I think they'll be leaving me alone for now."

"Oh, that's good!" Juri said a bit too excitedly. Henry frowned, "He didn't cause you too much trouble, did he?"

"No…well, kinda," Juri frowned, "I brought him home once and mom found him while clearing my room. She wanted to know where I got him. I said it was a present so now they think there's a boy crushing on me and…ick."

He noticed the shiver and frowned, afraid that this was exactly the perception he was helping build. He sighed, "Well, I'll take him off your hands then."

That didn't wipe the unnerving smile off her face and Henry found himself asking, "Why do you look so happy all of a sudden?"

"I think you just gave me an idea on how to cheer Takato up," Juri winked. Henry glanced in to the class and noticed the boy hadn't arrived yet even though class was about to start, "Still out of it, huh?"

"Yeah," Juri nodded, "We were thinking of doing something for the trip but we weren't sure what. I think you just gave me an idea, though."

"Well, tell me about it after school," Henry said, noticing the bell was about to ring, "I'll see you later."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Henry listened along intently to Juri's plan while shaking his head in disbelief, "You want to smuggle Guilmon onto the school field trip. I'm not asking, I'm repeating it back to you because I want to be sure you hear how crazy that sounds."

"How hard could it be?" Juri asked, turning head towards Kazu and Kenta who simultaneously answered, "VERY!"

Kazu added, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but he's a giant dinosaur. He's not going to be easy to disguise. And it's not like we can just put him inside one of the boxes. Everyone's going to ask what we're doing with a box that big!"

"Not if we sneak him in on a bag," Juri said with a great big smile on her face. Henry massaged his forehead, "And where do we get a bag big enough to hide him? And then transport him to the school without anyone noticing? Maybe you haven't noticed but the guy is as big as one of the teachers!"

"Not if we use a tent bag," Juri said with a more than happy smile. Henry sighed and massaged the side of his head, "Okay, and how are we supposed to bring a tent bag?"

"We sneak it in with the other tents that are supposed to be coming!" Juri said enthusiastically to everyone's utter surprise, as if she'd given this quite a bit of thought for something she supposedly just came up with, "It's a camping trip, remember? We put him in a tent bag, sneak him in that way, and then we bring him here! How does that sound?"

"So how do we distract them from noticing that Guilmon is in the bag? They're going to notice the moment he makes a noise. And don't tell me he can keep quiet for that long," Kenta pointed out sheepishly. Juri scratched her head, "We'll think of something."

* * *

The day of the camping trip came surprisingly quick, and the only plan any of them could think to come up with was to drag Guilmon along the ground and stash his tent bag along side all the other tents that the teachers were setting up. Henry massaged his temple, certain that the teachers would notice there was an extra tent bag that was moving. And if they didn't notice, that would only make him wonder just how little they were seeing. Takato had said the different realities made it harder for people to notice odd things. With any luck, this would be one of those things.

But luck didn't seem to take their side since Guilmon was protesting the entire trip, "Stop dragging me! This hurts! I want my shed! It was safe there. I miss my shed!"

"You have to keep quiet, Guilmon!" Juri said to the bag, patting it gently, "If you make too much noise, you won't be able to come with us on the camping trip."

"Is this safe? Takatomon said not to leave the shed unless he said so!" Guilmon whined aloud, "And who's stroking my tail?"

Kazu grunted, "You are! You're the only one in there! It'll be cramped for a while but we'll be at the camp site soon, so don't worry."

"How far is it?" Guilmon whimpered. It turned to a loud groan when Henry replied, "It's a four hour drive."

Once they made it to school, they hurriedly threw Guilmon's bag beside the other tent bags. Once again, luck turned against them when Miss Kamiya noticed them and she asked, "What are you kids doing by the tents?"

Juri whispered at Guilmon to be quiet while Kenta quickly answered, "We wanted to see if we could help put the tents away at all, Miss Kamiya."

"Uh-huh, sure," Miss Kamiya answered with a raised eyebrow, looking at all of them carefully, "And why would you want to do that all of a sudden? Looking for extra credit or to cause a prank?"

"Is it wrong for some students to just want to help out?" Juri asked seriously. Miss Kamiya remained unconvinced and continued to stare suspiciously, and Henry quickly picked up one of the tent bags to quietly put away on the bus's storage. That did nothing to convince Miss Kamiya, who quietly muttered, "You kids just get on the bus already. We'll be doing head counts soon."

"Um…Miss Kamiya," Takato said appearing just behind her holding a camera. She spun around and sternly said, "Now I know this is a prank."

"Prank? What? No, I just wanted some help with my camera. I can't get the flash to work," Takato said holding up a camera for her. She examined it carefully, taking it from his hands and turning it over, "Takato, you're really trying to tell me you don't know how to use a camera? It's easy! You just…push this button…and…um…well…you see…"

She began turning the camera over in her hand in confusion. While she was distracted, Takato mouthed to them to do whatever they were doing. They all nodded and picked up Guilmon's bag. The little digimon grunted from inside the bag as all four of them moved the bag along the ground to get it onto the bus. It would be too dangerous to have him with the other tents where the teachers would notice right away, so they quietly snuck him onto the bus and loaded the bag onto the back row where they'd be sitting. Neither Takato nor Miss Kamiya noticed the noises Guilmon was making, as she was too busy trying to figure out the camera and Takato was too busy trying to keep her attention. Once the tent bag was safely stowed away on the bus, they gestured at Takato that everything was fine. Takato nodded just as Miss Kamiya stated, "I don't know Takato, can't you just get a digital camera like everyone else?"

"That's okay, I didn't bring any film anyway," Takato said, snatching the camera back and running for the bus. Henry passed him on the way out and he asked, "So what were you guys doing out there?"

"Nothing," Juri said quickly before he finally stepped onto his class's bus. He couldn't tell if Takato had already figured things out already or not. Then he felt Terriermon ruffle around in his back pack, "Do you think Guilmon will be okay?"

"Probably," Henry mumbled quietly so that no one would notice him talking to himself, "It all depends on if he can keep quiet for several hours."

"With how easily distracted those teachers are, I don't think that's going to be a problem," Terriermon said at just a whisper that turned I to chuckle. As they boarded their own bus, Terriermon stuck his hand out of the bag and said, "Hey look!"

"Huh?" Henry followed the finger along to see a set of dolls tied on a net at the end of the bus. All he saw at the end were a bunch of stuffed animals, until he was certain one of them was moving. A familiar white digimon sitting there with big wide eyes. He waved at them excitedly and Henry quickly took the spot beside him to make sure no one else noticed, "What are you doing here Calumon?"

"i saw all these big things show up and went inside to see what was going on. Then all you humans started getting on too! What's going on?" Calumon asked at a mile a minute. Henry looked around, relieved to see that no one noticed Calumon talking and whispered, "Keep your voice down. Do you want everyone to know you're on here?"

"It's okay! They think I'm a toy!" he said excitedly. This was going to be a long drive.

* * *

Rika walked along the street, lost in thought and trying to drown out the world with her music. Unfortunately, the music did little to calm her down as her mind raced with the haunting fact that her mom was Mimi and her dad was Izzy. How could she have missed all this? It didn't make sense! She started pouring over the books again, looking through card details, and even rewatching the show to find some detail she'd missed. It was just as well too, since no digimon had appeared in a couple of days.

What she found didn't make her feel better though - nothing she didn't already know. What was the point of all this? It frustrated her to know she was getting nowhere this way. So she decided to go to her favorite card shop to pick up some new cards and maybe see what new expansion packs were coming out. Inside, the smell of unopened booster packs and cards up on display made her giddy to think what she could.

As she began browsing the cards and wondering which expansions to get herself, she noticed a section of shelf had been allocated for books. Specifically with copies of the first volume of the book series. But something seemed different about them. As she moved closer, she noticed the cover was different and the title had a subhead:

A Digimon Adventure: The Digimon Tamer

Rika stared at the title perplexedly, grabbing a copy of the book and thumbing through it. As she did, the clerk noticed her perusing and asked, "Interested in the reprint?"

"I already have this one. It looks different though," she answered, trying to find a familiar passage or scene. The clerk laughed, "That's because it's not the one you think it is. That book there was the first one in the whole series! The forgotten volume!"

"What's wrong with it?" she asked, curious now about this forgotten book. The clerk's smile widened, "So get this: the guy who wrote the digimon books actually wrote this one first. It wasn't a best seller, though and only had a few fans. Critics said it was too dark, too serious, and wasn't very kid friendly. Some people liked it but not enough to get a sequel. So he rewrote it and called the new one Digimon Adventure. The story's about the same, but it was more kid friendly, had a few adult fans, and sold better. Anyway, since the author still hasn't released his third book, the publisher decided to do a limited reprint of this one. A collector's edition if you like."

"I'll take it," Rika nodded, producing some change and purchasing the book. Maybe this book would tell a different story. One that would finally explain everything.

* * *

By some miracle, Guilmon stayed quiet for the whole trip and when he was unloaded from the bus. Either that or he was knocked out. Thankfully, Takato seemed too distracted to even notice Guilmon in the oversized bag just a few feet away. After another head count, they broke off into groups for lunch. Kazu and Kenta went ahead with the Guilmon bag to set things up while Juri stayed behind to keep Takato busy, "Say, Takato. Feeling any better?"

"Hmm? Better?" Takato repeated sheepishly, looking bewildered. Juri nodded, "Yeah, you've been kinda off lately. Everyone's noticed: you wander off as soon as class ends and no one can find you. Kazu and Kenta were even saying that you stopped showing up at the 'usual place'. Whatever that is. So is everything okay?"

"Hm, yeah," he nodded quietly, scratching his head, "Where did those guys go, anyway?"

"Takato," she said to hold his attention just a little bit longer, "What's going on?"

"Just been thinking lately," he answered, "About everything. I've got a lot on my mind with the digimon, not knowing what's going on in the Digital World and everything else."

Juri didn't believe that. He was fine about that up until recently, when that digimon showed up in the subway. It couldn't have been that. If it was, he would've been worried about all this after he told them everything. No, it was something else, "Is that all?"

He threw up his hands, "You got me."

"So what is it?"

"Later. Where'd Kazu and Kenta get to? Seriously? They can't have gotten far with that giant bag they had," Takato massaged his temple and scanned the area around the park. She was a little disappointed that he wasn't saying but at least she knew now that there was something on his mind. But she didn't want to press it. There was no way they were done setting up by now, but she was sure they'd at least be far enough away to not be noticed. This time, it was her turn to take the lead and she gestured at him to follow, "Follow me and I'll show you."

It did feel a little weird to be in the front for once. Not that it was a bad feeling, just different. Normally, Takato was the one in the lead and she was trying to keep up with him. Now it was the reverse, and the pace was a lot more relaxed than what she was sure either of them were used to. They came upon Kazu and Kenta relaxing gingerly behind some bushes with Guilmon stretching his tail. Takato's jaw hit the ground as he called out in surprise, "GUILMON!?"

"Hi Takatomon!" Guilmon waved, holding a sandwich in one hand and a rice ball in the other. The digimon smiled, "It all looks so good and I didn't know where to start!"

"What are you doing here?" Takato asked, happy to see his partner but also a little surprised by his presence. Guilmon explained, "Juri, Kazu, and Kenta snuck me on to the bus. Then I took a nap."

"They did?" Takato looked at them bewildered, seemingly realizing something obvious in front of him. Then he started to laugh - eerily at first but contagious. For a second, Juri was certain he was broken until he said, "I mean…I can't believe I missed that."

"You've been a little spacey the last couple of days dude," Kazu folded his arms, "Juri figured that bringing him on the camping trip might make you happy."

Juri noticed the look Takato gave her. A surprised look but one that was also contented. Seeing that look made the blood rush to her face and she flushed with embarrassment. She turned away so that he wouldn't see her. But that look he had. In all the times he'd been silly in class or goofy, or even depressed, this was the first time he'd seemed genuinely happy. Not to say he wasn't always happy but this was…different. Then she remembered this wasn't the real Takato. The real Takato was lost somewhere. This person was just someone wearing his face. She mentally slapped herself for killing what should've been a good mood

They quickly settled down to eat their lunch, where they each took turns stuffing Guilmon's face with parts of their lunch. With all the different food options available, Guilmon looked and acted like he was in a candy store. He ate so loud and enthusiastically that they had to shush him several times to keep him from being too loud. But all their efforts didn't stop them from going pale with panic when the bushes started to shake - they scrambled to hide Guilmon before a teacher caught him only to be surprised when they saw Henry appear, "This is where you guys are. So…we might have a little problem."

"Problem?" Takato repeated sheepishly, looking down to see Calumon run out from behind the bush at Henry's feet. Terriermon poked his head out of Henry's bag and added, "Looks like Calumon followed us on the trip. We managed to stop him before he started asking people for food."

Henry set his bag down so Terriermon could climb out holding two boxed lunches. Henry apologized, "Hope you guys don't mind, I can't keep an eye on both of them by myself."

"Moumantai, Henry," Terriermon said with a great big smile. He opened his lunch and started helping himself while Calumon poked at the rice and meat inside, "Wow, it looks yummy! What is it?"

"Well that's a hotdog. That's a chicken nugget. Those are cherry tomatoes and…um…I don't know what that is," Henry's face turned as he tried to determine what the last item in the lunch box was. Of course, at that exact moment their digivices went off at the same. Juri noted the defeated expression on Henry and Takato's faces as they both groaned.

"Really? A digimon has to show up now?"

"Come on, I haven't even gotten a chance to eat yet!"

It didn't help that their digivices displayed the weirdest image on its screen: a golden rooster wearing what looked like a bowling ball with claws. Henry asked, "Another one with no name. Think it's a Deva?"

"No doubt. This is…um…Sin…Sin…oh, what was it?" Takato snapped his fingers as he tried to recall, "Cindermon? No, that's not it…I don't remember. I do remember he's a fan of gossip so we could probably use that to distract him. Oh, and he loves to pick a fight. Even if it's over something as simple as getting the last soda."

"You're kidding," Terriermon said disbelievingly until Takato answered, "He once whittled down a mountain with his beak because a stone fell off it and landed on his tail. It took him a couple thousand years but he did it. They must be getting desperate if they're sending him of all digimon."

"Well it sounds like we should go check it out," Henry scooped up his bag, "Digivice says it's this way. Let's go."

"You guys go on ahead," Kazu packed up his lunch, "We still gotta set up the tents."

"Huh, it's not like you to not want to see a digimon fight, Kazu," Kenta pointed out, until Kazu added, "Well someone's got to play distraction while you guys are away. The moment the explosions happen, Miss Kamiya and the other teachers are going to start doing head counts. We can buy a little time while you guys do what you have to do."

With that, they broke off into their groups. Juri looked back as Takato led them off, hoping they'd all come back okay.

* * *

Sinduramon examined his surroundings in the Real World to make sure nothing was amiss. It wasn't. It seemed so calm. So peaceful. There was no way Mahiramon and Sandiramon could've failed here. And yet contact had been lost with both of them. And the catalyst was still missing. He spread his wings and glided from tree to tree. The journey between worlds left him feeling drained and he needed more power. Electricity. That's what he needed. Electricity.

But where was he supposed to find that in this uncivilized place? He hopped along from one tree to the next in search of any kind of electricity but found nothing. Where even was he? Was the entire human world like this? Or did he just have the bad luck of ending up in the middle of nowhere? Was he just going to have to wait for a thunder storm and to get struck by lightning. It didn't help that he eventually came upon his only weakness in this place: water. A river of water flowing calmly through this endless forest. The evidence was really piling up that he was in the middle of nowhere. He grunted angrily, as if he were being taunted. This wasn't what he needed right now.

Adding to the list of things he didn't need: the unmistakable smell of digimon. Other digimon coming his way. He turned his head towards the smell and noticed two humans in the lead: one in a blue hoodie and the other in an orange vest. And with them were three comparably weak digimon: Guilmon, Terriermon, and…could it be? But how did they…why…did they have it?

He narrowed his eyes and flew their way, indifferent to the fact that they noticed him immediately. He wanted them to know. He wanted them to be afraid, "Humans!"

"Hello!" the hooded one said with a wave, "Hey Sin…Cidermon? No, that's not right. Sorry, what was your name again?"

"SINDURAMON!" he cried at the top of its lungs in anger, "WHO ARE YOU TO KNOW MY NAME!?"

The hooded one cleaned out his ear with his finger, "You don't have to shout, we're right here. Also, why do you all keep saying that? 'Who are you to know my name!' You're the Devas! Who doesn't know your name? Well, I kinda forgot. That's my bad."

Sinudramon grumbled as the boy went on, "I'm Takato, this is Henry, these are Guilmon, Terriermon and Calumon!"

"Do you know what you have?" Sinduramon asked, gesturing at Calumon. Takato looked down at the little digimon and answered, "A hyperactive six inch mouse with attention deficit disorder?"

"Attention what?" Calumon repeated, its head tilting as it tried to process what was said. Sinduramon roared in anger at the human's behavior, "You will not speak so disrespectfully!"

Neither human flinched at his bellow to his annoyance. Did they not know who he was? The other one calmly asked, "Do you mind not shouting? We're right here and we can hear you just fine."

The Takato human added, "More to the point. Why are you here? First Mihiramon and now Sandiramon. What are you guys here for? I mean, yes, I know it's because of the Catalyst but it's in the Digital World. That's the gossip anyway. You guys are looking in the wrong place."

Sinduramon was intrigued now, always loving a chance for a good chat when it presented itself, "Then you've got bad sources, human. The catalyst is here. It was sent away for safe keeping. Now it needs to be retrieved."

"Safe keeping? Safe keeping from what?" Takato asked, gesturing around wildly in confusion. Sinduramon leered at the boy. Was he fishing for information? Well he knew better than to give anything away. But he needed to tell someone other than the Devas. It didn't matter if they knew. They'd be dead soon anyway, "An old and unknowable danger, buried in the heart of the Digital World has awoken. We Devas who aren't fighting it with our Masters have come to reclaim the-"

"-the catalyst. Yeah. Look, we both know that's not how you normally talk so can we skip past that part?" the Takato human said. The disrespect was growing to Sinduramon's ever growing anger and it didn't help that the human had the audacity to add, "Look, you digimon coming over to the Real World is becoming a bit of a problem, especially when you start blowing things up. We can help if you guys want. That's what we have these for, right?"

Sinduramon couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a digivice, but unlike any he'd ever seen. No. He had to focus. They were irrelevant. Secure the catalyst. That was why he was here. Forget the electrical power. With the catalyst nearby, he would have all the power he needed. He could defeat them all, "Positron Pulse!"

An arc of electricity shot out from the prongs on his armor and struck the ground in front of them. They all jumped back and Takato tried to reason with him, "Sinduramon! We're trying to help!"

"We don't need human help!" Sinduramon roared in anger. He swooped down to them with his claws out, "Die humans!"

"Is now a bad time to mention I'm technically digital?" the Takato human asked. Sinduramon answered by firing another blast of electricity. That was when the Guilmon and Terriermon decided to attack, "Pryosphere!"

"Bunny Blast!"

* * *

Henry and Takato stayed back as their digimon rushed into the fight. Calumon was too scared to get in the middle and hid behind Henry's leg. Henry looked over at Takato, "So what's the plan here? You said Sinduramon was prone to picking fights. I thought we we're going to use that?"

"Oh...I don't have much of a plan," Takato frowned, scanning the environment haphazardly, "I was hoping to get more info out of him first since he's a gossiper. Now we're winging it. Let's see: water. It'll short circuit him. Sure. Convince him to take a bath. Okay, trees. He can fly. It'd never work. Rocks? Um...you didn't happen to bring your deck did you?"

"Of course not! There hasn't been a digimon attack in days! I wanted to relax!" Henry spat out. Takato looked at him, "What do you call this?"

"Guys! Don't fight!" Calumon pleaded. They were supposed to be friends. Friends didn't fight.

Henry eyes narrowed, "Wait, where's your deck?"

"I left it at home," Takato answered and Henry snapped back, "And you're calling me out?"

"Stop fighting!" Calumon pleaded with them, "STOP FIGHTING!"

He closed his eyes and wished all of it would stop and he felt a sharp pain in his head.

* * *

Henry looked over in shock as bright light illuminated from Calumon's head - darting towards their digimon. It was so bright he had to cover his eyes to with his hands and stepped back. Before his voice was drowned out by their digimon's cries, he heard Takato shout, "Calumon's the catalyst!?"

"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"

"Guilmon! Digivolve to! Growlmon!"

By the time Henry could see again, he saw both their partners had digivolve to their champion form. Sinduramon became furious at the sight of them, eyeing Calumon viciously and charging straight for the little digimon. Thankfully Growlmon got in front of him and knocked him into a tree so hard that the tree snapped in half.

Takato scooped up Calumon and held the little digimon tight, "Sinduramon! We're not here to fight. We came to help. So stop fighting or-"

"Well a fight is what you're going to get, human! How dare you use the catalyst's powers!" Sinduramon roared as he dove out from under the tree straight at Takato. Takato side stepped the flying rooster, and they all watched the Deva crash into the river where he started convulsing in agony. Sparks of electricity flew through the air and arced with the current as it carried him away with the stream. Henry looked to Takato for an explanation, "What's happening? Why is he in pain? It's just water."

"Sinduramon's basically a giant battery and he's discharging all his power," Takato explained as they both watched the digimon twitch and convulse. After a moment, Takato threw Calumon into the air and ran to the water's edge, "Wait! We have to help him!"

Henry caught Calumon before he hit the ground, and quickly grabbed Takato by the scruff of his collar before he got too close to the water. Takato wriggled against him, but Henry shouted, "Takato! If he's discharging his electricity, running into the water will only get you killed!"

That seemed to knock some sense in Takato who frowned as the digimon finally stopped convulsing and exploded into data. Takato's jaw fell open as he fell quiet again. Henry shook him, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, just...processing," he answered quietly while looking at where Sinduramon had been, "I'm not sure how I feel about this because I wanted to help him not hurt him but...well, he did it to himself. With how hot-headed he is, I'm not sure what I expected. Huh."

"Well while we're thinking about it, we have another problem," Henry thumbed over at Growlmon and Gargomon. While neither of them were looking, Gargomon began to absorb the digimon's data. Takato went on, "Right, first we have to get them back to rookie or we'll never be able to sneak them away. Then, we have to figure out how Calumon is the catalyst."

Henry looked down at the little digimon in front of him, surprised to see that something so small and friendly could be the very thing all the strong digimon had come looking for. Then he looked up at Takato, "IS the catalyst not a digimon?"

"It's supposed to be a big ball of multi dimensional energy harvested from a fire wall," Takato pointed at Calumon, "No offense Calumon."

"I don't know what you said but it sounds like you were trying to say I'm awesome!" the little digimon said gleefully.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Calumon was important the entire time! What will our heroes do with the little digimon? What will Rika find in the book? And what will the others do now that they know Tamer is back? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 due out in three weeks on Friday May 29th at 8 PM CDT. I'm taking an extra week on this break to recover because I've been sick and it's slowed down my writing. If you loved it, let me know in the comments section along with any thoughts you might have on the chapter. Don't forget to kudo the story to show support, and bookmark to keep up to date with the latest updates. And now let's look at previews for the next chapter:
> 
> "Where do you keep getting all those?" she asked sheepishly. He stuffed as many as he could into his bag, "This is Shinjuku! Where aren't I finding these? Open up your bag and make some room."
> 
> "Uh...um...yeah," Juri unzipped her bag and held it open for him to stuff some smoke bombs in there for her, "Where did you even get the idea to use fireworks?"
> 
> "A friend of mine...I think," Takato answered quietly, "I don't remember. I think we were friends. Now that I think about it, she was mad at me a lot. That's not important. I got the idea from...um...something about pointy lights. It'll come back to me. Anyway, here."
> 
> Once her bag was stuffed with as much as it could carry, he zipped it for her and declared, "Alright! Let's go catch up with the others."


	16. Knowing More, Understanding Less

Juri didn't see Takato or Henry return until late in the afternoon, when the sun had almost set. Right away, she noticed something was off because Henry was holding Calumon like he was a baby that needed protecting from the world despite the little digimon's protests to be let go. Still, it was a weight off her mind to see that they were okay and she raced to greet them, "Welcome back! How'd everything go?"

"Another Deva down," Henry answered quietly, lifting up Calumon while also keeping a firm hold, "And we found out Calumon is the one they're coming to our world for. But the reason why is...well, not good. They said there's something in their world so dangerous that they sent Calumon here to hide him but now they need him back so that they can actually fight back against whatever it is."

"That sounds bad," Juri replied sheepishly, looking around and noticing they were missing two digimon, "Where are Guilmon and Terriermon?"

"It's Growlmon and Gargomon, right now. We have them doing hand stands out in the forest until they shrink back down to size. They've got to tire out eventually," Takato answered quietly, finally getting annoyed with Calumon's complaints and flicking him across the forehead with his finger, "Calm down, Calumon. We aren't trying to hurt you, we just want to keep you safe. If we were going to hurt you, we would've done it already."

That comment made the little digimon's wars shrink in size and Takato quickly threw up his hands, "Sorry! I wasn't try to scare you! We're just trying to figure out what to do with you since you're here now and apparently a bunch of crazy digimon are attacking our world to get to you."

"You're not going to give me to them, are you? They've all been real mean!" Calumon finally said something that wasn't a loud protest. Takato patted the little digimon's head, "No, of course not. We'll be keeping an eye on you so you don't run off. But who are we going to-"

"My sister!" Henry answered quickly, "She's seven so she's only in the second grade and she's probably the only one who can keep up with Calumon when it comes to playing."

Takato looked at him skeptically, and even Juri was unsure just what he was thinking. Did he really plan on bringing more people in on this? And a seven year old? There was no way he was thinking this through. Takato folded his arms and asked, "We already have enough people who know about digimon. Do you seriously want to tell someone else?"

"You're the one who decided to tell your friends," Henry gestured at Juri, "No offense, Juri. But he blabbed way before I ever did. At this point, what does it matter if we let any one else in? It's not like it's much of a secret at this point. One digimon blew up the top of the Metropolitan Building, and another rampaged through the subways. If anything, it's weird that there isn't more panicking in the streets."

Takato looked at him with his mouth wide open as he tried to come up with a response before he agreed, "Alright, but can we trust her not to say anything?"

Henry groaned, "She's seven. Who's believe her? As long as Terriermon and I keep an eye on Calumon, I think he's not going anywhere."

"Do I get a say in this? Because I don't want to be locked up any more!" Calumon whimpered. Henry lattes his head, "Don't worry. You two will definitely get along. Besides, she really likes to play."

* * *

Impmon stared down at the house below him. The same house where her first landed in the Digital World. The house where he met his 'human partners'. Two bickering kids who couldn't get along if their lives depended on it. He didn't know why he kept coming back to this place. It wasn't like there was anything here for him.

Ai, the older sister, and Mako, the younger brother. He watched them playing in the backyard and realized neither one of them had seemed to notice he was gone. They were too busy fighting over who got to play with what toys. It seemed like a cruel joke in hindsight - how did he get paired up with a pair of brats like them and for what purpose? Neither of them seemed interested in digimon - either as that kids' toy line in this world or him.

How were they going to help him get stronger? As he watched the two of tug over a teddy bear, he noticed the seams start to give and it eventually ripped apart. Seeing that reminded him of why he left. It was only a matter of time until they destroyed him the way they destroyed that doll. Humans really were more trouble than they were worth. But he couldn't stop himself from thinking on the other humans and their partners - Renamon and Rika, Takato and Guilmon. Both of them got along well with their partners and were able to digivolve. So why couldn't he have that? Why did he keep coming here?

He turned his back on the kids as they started wailing over another destroyed toy and left. To hell with humans. He would get stronger on his own, without the help of humans.

* * *

That night, they were all gathered around the campfire listening to Mr. Mori telling them what were his attempts at a ghost story. When none of the students found it very scary, Mr. Mori offered each of them a chance to tell their own ghosts stories and everyone jumped at the chance to tell a better story than him. They each took turns telling their own version of ghost stories: stories of haunted houses, restless spirits, nameless monsters, and other things that each thought would be scary. Others skipped their turn to come up with ideas or because they didn't want to. Then Juri's turn came and she froze, "I think I'll pass. I'm not too good at telling stories."

So it was Takato's turn, but he hardly noticed as he stared into the fire. He only snapped out of it when Kazu elbowed him, "Hey! Takato! It's your turn."

"Huh? Oh. What were we doing?"

"Telling scary stories, duh," Kazu answered, "Pay attention. Do you have one or not?"

"Oh...I guess. It's not a good one though," Takato answered quietly, adjusting uncomfortably where he sat. Kazu rested his head on his arms, "Oh, this'll be good."

Takato stared into fire a little longer before starting, "A long time ago, there was a monster that ravaged a far away land. It was a nameless, shapeless thing without pity or remorse. All it cared for was devouring all it could find. Those who survived encounters with it, were simply eaten later on. But stories spread - spread of this beast and it attracted heroes: the brave and strong who set out to stop it. And it ate every last one of them. With every battle, it became smarter - learning the tricks of every hero so it didn't work twice. It became stronger, so that no one could challenge it. It became more cruel, as it realized nothing could stop it. Soon, armies from distant lands came together to challenge it. And the monster laughed - seeing only more food to be eaten. And it ate well."

"So what happened?" Kenta asked, drawn into the story while half of the class was already tuned out from boredom. Takato stared into the fire, "One day - a single brave hero stepped up to face it alone. The strongest, wisest, bravest hero ever known whose name could turn any foe at the sound of it. And they fought - their battle changed the land around them. And it changed the hero. For the first time, both knew fear and the monster retreated. But the hero was scarred by facing the unknowable, the unkillable. It drove him mad, and he turned on those he swore to protect. One monster was defeated and another took its place."

Takato paused for again, staring into the fire before adding, "Fearful of what the hero had become, his closest friends devised a plan. They led him out into the wilds where the monster had fled, knowing the two would find each other again. And when they did, they went into a rage and battled. As they fought, the friends tricked the two and cast them into the chasm beneath earth and buried it. Their hope was that the two would continue their battle to the death, or be crushed by the debris. But their battle raged on. Every time the ground shakes, mountains erupt in flame, the seas swell, and winds rage - it's because their battle continues on. And should one win, it will only be a matter of time before the survivor returns from the depths."

"Boring," Kazu yawned, "That story sucked Takato."

The boy sheepishly replied, "I did say it wasn't a very good one, didn't I?"

The rest of the class were mixed. Some found it scary, but most were with Kazu in how boring it was. Juri found it especially unnerving - a monster that couldn't be stopped and could one day come back. That alone was enough to be frightening. But she didn't want to say that. Eventually, Mr. Mori clapped his hands to get their attention, "Okay, I think that's enough scary stories for tonight. It'd be best if you all went to bed now kids. We've got a bright and early day in the morning!"

"Aww!" the class groaned in unison, to which Mr. Mori stated, "No complaints. We have a day full of fun activities planned for tomorrow and you guys should get some rest before we do it."

Everyone slowly got up to go to their tents but Juri noticed that Takato stared into the fire a little longer. She tapped his shoulder to get his attention, "Hey, did you space out again?"

"Huh, oh yeah," Takato looked around, "What's going on now? Where's everyone going?"

"We were all going back to our tents," she pointed out to him. He nodded absent-mindedly, still sitting where he was and staring into the fire. Sensing something was bugging him, she asked, "Are you still thinking about whatever was bothering you before?"

"Kinda."

"You never said what it was," Juri pointed out to him and he stifled a laugh, "No, I didn't."

He looked up from the fire for a moment, "It's just…I've been trying to sort out the memories in my head for a while. I figured the old me would've planned for this and left behind some clues to help me figure things out. They come and go, but it's all a jumbled mess and the headache makes it hards to concentrate. But the memories I can focus on…how do I put this? Whoever I was before...didn't like fighting. No, it's more like...he was tired of fighting. When I close my eyes and try to remember the past, a lot of the memories that are there are just...nonstop fighting. And if it wasn't fighting, it was using others. And it scares me. I don't want to be that person. I'm trying to fix everything peacefully but it feels like no one else wants to. Rika and Renamon are always the first to go in swinging punches. I can't stop Guilmon from turning violent all the time, sometimes he just runs off on his own. And I'm scared if this continues, I might be like that person again. If that makes sense."

"It really doesn't," Juri answered, remembering their conversation the other day. This wasn't the real Takato. This was just someone else that looked like him, living his life. Takato shook his head, "I guess I don't just suck at telling stories, huh?"

"I thought it was good," she admitted quietly. Takato nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Thanks for listening, Juri."

"Hey, hurry up you two!" Mr. Mori clapped his hands to get their attention. Realizing they'd both fallen behind the others, they got up and hurried back to their separate tents. Juri noted that Takato seemed a little more relaxed after talking, but burst into a small laugh when she heard Mr. Mori ask, "Boy, why can't Miss Kamiya and I be like that?"

* * *

Rika sat at her desk, flipping through the book she'd bought from the store. It was drab and repetitive, but that didn't stop her from getting all the way to the end out of a curious desire to know how it would end. She turned the last page of the book and closed it. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. This version of the story, the one that wasn't popular…was so much worse than the one she'd come to know and love. And if any of it was true, she certain that they could no longer trust Takato or The Digimon Tamer ever again. The lies, the manipulation, the exclusion of important information - all of it put the digidestined and their digimon in danger. If he would've just told them…maybe…

It at least explained why her mom was the way she was. To think that was the reason why her grandfather on her mom's side never came to the city. Why her grandmother on her mom's side was a sore subject for both of them. But there were still so many more questions that were unanswered.

And there was the other part of the story that bothered her. The rage and anger that this Tamer character carried. He kept it buried for so long than when it got out, he became more of a monster than the digimon could ever be. Takato said he was having memory problems…so what if he remembered? Or worse, what if he did remember and was simply burying it again? What would happen if he let that explode again? She tried to imagine the dopey Guilmon becoming a mindless monster and that terrified her.

She looked up from her book and called out to her partner, "Hey…Renamon?"

"Yes, Rika?" her partner's voice called out from behind her. She turned around to face her partner, "This Tamer person that you think I am…what were they like?"

"According to many digimon, a brave hero, a great warrior, and a unique thinker," she replied. Rika frowned, because that all matched up with what she'd read in the book, "Would you trust them?"

"Beg pardon?" her partner asked. Rika sighed, "If you met the Tamer, I mean…whoever the Tamer was before, would you trust them?"

Renamon stared at her intently for the longest time, maybe trying to read in to the question. After a long, painful silence Renamon answered, "No. The Tamer had a reputation as a trickster…someone who would play you against yourself without you even realizing. However, I would still choose to work with the Tamer if I'd met him - ultimately, his aims were for the greater good."

The greater good. Rika wasn't so sure about that. She was missing a grandparent because of that guy. And she dreaded to think of what else she might lose if she spent any more time around him.

* * *

A day of fun activities was a nice change of pace from battling evil digimon as it had been in the last day. Of course, Henry noted that Takato's mood had improved somewhat, of course it probably had to do with the fact that he kept sneaking off to go spend time with the digimon. And the digimon were having a blast as well in the wilderness since they could be themselves without having to worry about running into anyone they didn't know. In fact, the one time Henry snuck off to join them it was to see them making a totem pole with Guilmon on the bottom, Terriermon in the middle, and Calumon on top.

And for some reason, they were all still doing hand stands.

Everyone's mood seemed improved by the time they all went home. Calumon tried to run off as soon as they got off the bus but Terriermon pulled him back into the backpack before he could get away. As they were all dismissed home, Takato came over to him and said, "We should tell Rika and Renamon about Calumon. I'm thinking we need a team meeting at the shed later. How does that sound?"

"Right now? We just got home," Henry said, only to notice the eager looks on Kazu and Kenta's faces behind Takato. Realizing this was happening, he sighed, "Fine, but let me get Calumon to my place first. The sooner we get him to safety, the better."

"Fine by me. I'm going to go find Rika," Takato answered. Henry wished he could've shared his enthusiasm - now the hard part was going to be telling Xiaochun and hoping she wasn't going to accidentally blab about everything. As soon as he got home, Xiaochun ran up to hug him and wrapped herself around his legs, "HENRY! IT'S YOU! YOU'RE BACK! HOW WAS CAMPING! COME PLAY WITH ME!"

"Hi Xiaochun!" Henry answered, taking one last moment to decide if she could be trusted. He assured himself that even if she blabbed, everyone would think she was just having an overactive imagination. He took his little sister by the hand and guided her to her room, "Let's go play in your room."

"YAY!" she cheered, skipping along, "We're gonna play dolls and tea party!"

Henry rolled his eyes and went along with it, annoying the snickers from his older siblings. Once he locked the bedroom door behind them, he kneeled down and unzipped the bag, "Hey, Xiaochun! Before we play, I got a surprise for you. But you have to keep it secret okay?"

"A secret?" Xiaochun jumped up and down excitedly, trying to peer into the bag, "Ooh! What is it? What is it?"

Henry reached into his backpack and produced Calumon who excitedly bounced around, "Finally! That bag of yours is stuffy!"

"Oh wow! He's so cute! Is he a pet?" Xiaochun said excitedly, picking up the little digimon and giving him a great big hug, "What's his name? Does he like tea? Ooh! I know! He can have my candy!"

"His name is Calumon," Henry told his little sister. Before he had the chance to say anymore, Xiaochun picked up the little digimon and announced, "Calumon, let's go play!"

Immediately, Calumon's tone shifted and his ears perked up, "Play? What are we playing? I want to play!"

"Let's play Pretty Princess Prissy Pants!" Xiaochun said excitedly, about to run out of the room. Thankfully, Henry was able to act quickly this time and grabbed her by the shoulder before she could get too far, "Xiaochun, wait!"

"Aw, but I want to play now!" Xiaochun frowned. Henry wagged his finger at her and said, "Did you forget already? You have to keep Calumon a secret, okay?"

"A secret? Like Terriermon?" Xiaochun asked innocently enough and Henry didn't like her tone when she said that. Especially when a sly smile drew itself on her face, "Henry, did you steal Calumon from another girl? Daddy says that's not nice!"

"No, I found him. That's different," Henry tried explaining to the little girl, annoyed that everyone in his family was thinking he was some kind of weirdo who didn't know how to talk to girls. Thankfully, she quickly lost interest, instead squeezing Calumon again with another big hug and cheering, "We're going to have so much fun and we're going to play dress up and have tea parties and play dollies."

Henry looked down into his bag to see Terriermon shaking anxiously. Listening to Xiaochun must've triggered some really bad memories in the poor digimon because he was shaking furiously in the bag and looked like he wanted to leave. He patted Xiaochun's head and reminded her, "Don't forget, he's a secret."

"Okay!"

Now to add the hard part, "Here's another important thing, Xiaochun. Calumon is real. He's not a doll, he's a real live digimon and he wants to be your friend."

"I do?" Calumon asked.

"You do?" Xiaochun asked just as excitedly. Henry then added, "Remember, you have to keep him a secret, okay? No one else can see him. Not even mom and dad. Otherwise some bad people may come and take him. If you do that, you can keep him play with each other all you want."

"Play?" they said together excitedly, "Yay! Play!"

* * *

Rika and Renamon expanded their patrols to the surrounding neighborhood after what happened with the last two digimon to come through: Sandiramon the serpent and Mihiramon the flying cat. These Devas seemed ready to show up any time now. Of course, it helped that she didn't want to be around when her mom had friends over. The last thing she wanted was to be asked to dress up again or try on more fashionable clothes. But she also didn't want to be seen leaving either.

No matter how many times she thought about it, she just couldn't accept it. Her mom was Mimi. Worse, she would hear the name whenever her grandmother called her mom. And when her friends came over too. The harder she wanted to deny it, the worse it became for her.

She waited just beyond the living room, as her mom's friends came in one at a time: that fashion designer and her rockstar husband, some detective, and a couple others she couldn't quite place. She wondered if these adult friends were the grown up digidestined. No, there was no wondering. This was them as adults. Then her mom said something that caught their attention, "So...I got something from Kari to share with all of you. She wanted to tell you guys herself but couldn't because of something going on in the school. Some field trip."

"She already filled Matt and I in, and we've talked about it to death," the fashion designer asked, "You guys can fill the rest of them in."

"It's about her brother," her mom replied. Rika couldn't miss the silence that followed or the sound of a cup breaking. She heard a slap and a woman say, "Ken! Not in her house."

"It's alright, Yolei," her mom said calmly, "Anyway, she thinks her brother is back as a student in her class. She sent the emails to me and I have them on Koushiro's old computer if you're ready to take a look."

"I can't wait for this," the detective guy grumbled. They filed into dad's office, giving her the chance to slip away. She had no idea why her mom kept that room after dad left and she didn't care. But she kept thinking on what her mom said…was Takato's teacher catching onto the fact that he was claiming to be the Tamer? She made mental note to pass that along if she ran into them. She ran out the door as quickly as she could and out onto the street, "Let's go Renamon!"

"Where to, today?" her partner asked as she appeared beside her. Rika stretched and answered, "First the card shop so I can pick up a booster pack and then on patrol around the city. These digimon have been popping up more often and I want to be ready for whenever the next one shows up."

"As you wish, Rika," Renamon did her vanishing act. Rika set out, ready for another day's worth of patrols and hopeful for another fight. And all of that vanished the moment she ran into the goggle head waiting for her, "Gogglehead? What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk. Team meeting," he explained to her. Rika folded her arms, "Team meeting? What's going on?"

"I'll fill you in when we get to the park. We don't know who might hear us out in the open," he explained to her. She hesitated for a moment, recalling all the information from the book. He noticed her hesitation and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she nodded and started walking. She wasn't going to be afraid of him. Cautious, yes. But she would not be afraid.

* * *

Yamaki walked along with his hands in his pockets, following the target calmly - a blonde haired man about his age wearing a baseball cap with the brim lowered to conceal his face. It was just a shame that it made him stand out more. He raised his wrist up to his face, speaking softly into the radio hidden there, "Target is approaching checkpoint one. Move to intercept."

"Copy," a voice said back. This was it. This was Takeru Takaishi - the reclusive author and journalist who vanished. It was entirely by chance that he'd been spotted skulking around the many game shops that sold digimon cards, made all the better because they were able to get a whole team of plain clothed agents present before he could leave. Now that he was leaving, this was their chance to acquire him before he disappeared again. After all, no one would notice if a missing person was captured in broad day light. And with Izumi out of the picture, they would need all the help they could get: voluntary or not.

The field agent just ahead of Takaishi moved to intercept, keeping his nose buried in a newspaper to conceal his face until the chance was right. As the two were about to bump into each other, the agent lowered the paper and started talking. Yamaki listened in on the conversation over the radio, moving closer to block Takaishi in if tried to run, "Mister Takaishi. Could I have a moment? It won't be long…Please, if you would come with me?…Let me be clear, your cooperation isn't being requested. Just come with me…Behind you, up above, two across the street, and one down that alley. You've got nowhere to…HEY!"

The field agent fell over backwards as Takaishi pushed past him. Yamaki spoke into his radio, "Babel!Babel! Babel!"

"Copy, Babel!" each of the agents responded back into the radio. Yamaki gave chase as each of the agents moved to surround Takaishi. Luckily, they knew the area well whereas Takaishi didn't. He ran straight into a dead end alley that was blocked by a twenty-foot high chain link fence. He was trapped.

Each of the agents moved in to block the alley entrance with their guns drawn. Yamaki watched from the back as the agents all tried to talk him down. Takaishi had his hands in the air to surrender. Yamaki breathed a sigh of relief. They caught him. Now they just had to bring him in. Yamaki stepped forward with a pair of handcuffs to make the arrest when Takaishi took a step back. It was like watching something out of a ghost story. Takaishi passed through the chain link fence like it wasn't there.

Yamaki felt the handcuffs fall out of his hands in shock - that wasn't possible. Takaishi just moved through a chain link fence. Like a ghost. For a brief second, Takaishi looked like he was waving at them. No, he was mocking them. He could see the vaguest semblance of a smirk on his face as he turned tail and ran far away from here. Yamaki clicked his tongue angrily - he'd gotten away. Were they all capable of doing this? No, of course not. Otherwise, Izumi would've run a long time ago. No, this was different. Is this how Takaishi had managed to go off the radar for so long? But how? Normal people couldn't do that.

Yamaki stepped forward and touched the fence to make sure it was real. It was there - cold and physical. There was something else they were missing. Something else they didn't see.

* * *

Rika followed Takato all the way back to the park, annoyed that their patrol had been cut short unceremoniously. Along the way, they ran into Henry walking along with Terriermon poking his head out of the bag. Terriermon waved at them excitedly as they walked past and asked, "Looks like we're all here!"

"So what are we doing with this team meeting?" Rika's eyes narrowed on them. Takato thumbed into the park, "We'll talk in the usual place. Not out here. We don't know who's listening."

"What? You're being paranoid! There's no one around!" Rika pointed out. Takato pressed a finger to her lips and explained, "All the more reason to be careful. That guy might show up again and he was really interested in getting his hands on Terriermon. We don't want him knowing what we know. And then you have Renamon. She can pull her disappearing act, but how many other digimon can disappear like that? Better to be careful."

"Fine," Rika scowled, following along with them as they made their way back into the shed. Once again, the others were all inside: Juri, Kazu, and Kenta. She was less thrilled to see Kazu and Kenta, but it was nice to see Juri here. As soon as they were inside, Takato called out, "You can come inside too, Renamon. We already know you're there."

She appeared just behind her at the entrance, "What is so important you needed me here also?"

"We found out what the devas are coming for," Takato began. Rika rolled her eyes, "We know - it's that stupid catalyst they keep screaming about. So what?"

"I mean we found out what the catalyst is," Takato explained to her sheepishly, "It's Calumon, that little guy who pops up every once in a while."

Rika couldn't believe her ears. Calumon? That pipsqueak? He was the thing that the devas were coming through to find? WHY!? He wasn't strong! He was weak! And tiny! She expected some big, powerful digimon. How was Calumon the catalyst? Did that tiny digimon really have all that power and energy hidden inside of him? And if there was that much power inside of him, why put it inside of a tiny thing like Calumon? Once any one found out, it'd be game over and anyone would be able to take him.

Thankfully, she wasn't the only one with her doubts. She just wished it wasn't Kazu who was also being skeptical, "Are you sure you're not still confused? There's no way a pipsqueak like that is gonna be what all these digimon are coming over to find!"

"That's Ancient technology," Takato pointed out matter of factly, "Infinite power contained in a tiny form - something that wouldn't stand out as much. The only down side is that whoever made Calumon didn't think it would be a bad idea to have him running out into danger at the drop of a hat. But that worked out for us more than once because he was there most of the time our digimon digivolved. If he wasn't there, he was probably hiding nearby."

"Okay, so they're after Calumon. Let's just give the devas what they want so that they leave us alone," Juri suggested. Terriermon snickered, "I wouldn't do that. We don't know who we're giving him to if we do that. What if he we give him to the wrong side? The DigiWorld's going to be in a lot of trouble then!'

"Okay, how do we figure out which side is the right side to give him too?" Juri asked. Takato interrupted, "We're not giving Calumon to anyone. All that power inside of him; it's too powerful to leave in anyone's hands."

"Right, so it makes sense that only we can hold him. Are you serious? We have a chance to end this and you want to hang on to the reason they're all coming over?" Kenta asked in disbelief, pointing an accusatory finger at Takato. He shook his head and tried explaining, "No, think about it. The digimon were showing up long before Calumon did. What would change if we gave Calumon back? We might give whoever is sending all the digimon here a power boost. And we barely managed to beat the first two."

"What about Sinduramon?" Henry asked. Rika looked over at them with a raised eyebrow, "Who's Sinduramon? Did you guys fight a Deva without me?"

She noticed Henry avert his gaze while Terriermon started laughing his head off. Takato sighed, "He attacked our camping trip but…well, he kinda killed himself. See, he was basically a walking battery and he ran at us, missed, and fell into a river. You can imagine what happened next."

"If we're lucky, the rest of them will all go down that easy," Terriermon snickered. Now Kazu folded his arms in frustration, "If they all go down that easy, it's no wonder Takato ended up with a partner."

It was hard to miss the annoyed look on Takato's face, but he refrained from saying anything to add, "Whatever the case, I think the best idea is to just protect Calumon for now until we can figure out what's going on in the Digital World - which we can go to once I figure out how the new digivice works."

"Whatever, so why did I need to be here? Next time write me a note," Rika asked, annoyed with what seemed to have been another waste of her time. Time she would've preferred to spend finding more digimon to beat so that she could make Renamon stronger. The disappointed look from Takato didn't help either, "I know what you're thinking, and it's not right. Digimon are living, thinking beings. You shouldn't be so willing to kill them as quickly as they pop up."

Rika was about to respond when all three of their digivices started going off at the same time - signaling them into the distance towards a new signal. And then another. And another. Four. There were four signals appearing. Rika couldn't deny the little bit of excitement building up inside of her. Just the chance to fight four tough opponents got her heart racing.

Henry wasn't as enthusiastic, "We might not have a choice with the next one. I think the Devas aren't too happy that their friends aren't coming back if they're sending four of them now."

"Yeah, we're going to need every advantage we can get," Takato frowned, "I'm going to run home and get some smoke bombs."

Juri quickly raised her hands, "I'll come too. The more we bring, the better."

Takato smiled cheerfully, "Awesome. I hate to ask Henry, but can you bring Calumon too?"

"Yeah. Talk about bad timing. We just got back from our camping trip and now we have another Devas on the loose. Hopefully Xiaochun doesn't mind going separate ways from Calumon so soon," Henry admitted sheepishly. Takato frowned, "Then bring her too, if you have to. If this goes south, we'll need his power to help our digimon digivolve."

"You do whatever you have to. Renamon and I will head in first and get a bead on the situation," Rika declared. They all agreed on that and hurried off to their different roles.

* * *

Henry tried to get back into his family's apartment as quietly as he could, but both of his parents noticed his return as soon as he stepped past the entry way. His mom called out, "Jenrya, why are you home so late?"

He cursed his luck and made his excuses, "I was out with friends. I'm just going to grab something real quick and then go hang out with them more."

"Wait, how was the camping trip?" he heard his mom call after him as he raced back into Xiaochun's room. His little sister already had Calumon in a dress and was hosting a pretend tea party for him with all her dolls, "Hey, Xiaochun. I need to borrow Calumon real quick."

"No way! We're having tea and I'm about to give everyone cake!" she complained, pretending to pour tea from an empty plastic teapot onto a tea cup for Calumon to pretend to drink out of, "This is really good. It's so sweet and yummy, just how I like it! So what kind of cake are we having?"

Henry tried to explain to them, "I'm sorry but this is an emergency. You two can play tea later."

"If it needs Princess Calumon, then I'm coming too!" Xiaochun said excitedly, placing her tea cup down on the table and picking up Calumon. Calumon was less thrilled by this declaration, "No way. There's gonna be another big scary digimon trying to hurt people. I don't wanna go!"

"Is it that scary?" she asked innocently enough, looking up at her big brother with those big innocent eyes. He nodded, intending to keep her as far from it as possible, "That's right. Which is why I'm only bringing Calumon."

Xiaochun puffed out her cheeks in protest and raised her voice, "No fair! If Calumon gets to go, I wanna go too! I wanna go! I WANNA GO!"

Henry couldn't argue with her mostly because she was definitely getting the attention of the rest of his family now. But he didn't want to because this was his sister. He couldn't bring her into something dangerous like this. First Terriermon, and now her! Was fate messing with him? Was he just going to have to keep escalating the people he was going to have to bring into danger. On the other hand, he couldn't afford to risk his little sister telling their parents about digimon being real. He sighed, "Fine, you can come. But you have to stay beside me no matter what. Do you understand?"

"YAY!" she cheered excitedly. Henry was already sure he was going to regret this and hurried into his room to get his card deck. He just hoped things didn't turn out as badly as he suspected they were going to. He called out to the apartment, "I'm going now! Xiaochun's coming too! We won't be long! BYE!"

"Henry, wait!" he heard his dad say but there was no time to respond. They had to hurry.

* * *

Juri and Takato made their way into his family's bakery from the back entrance, hoping to sneak past his parents before they noticed he was home only to be caught by his dad as he was taking some more bread out of the oven, "Oh, Takato. You're home! You're just in time. Could you help me wrap these up real quick and-"

Juri noticed that Takato barely gave him the chance to respond, "Sorry dad! In the middle of something, talk later!"

Juri couldn't imagine ever talking to her own parents that way, and wasn't sure if she admired Takato for it or thought he needed a good smack across the back of his head for it. It didn't help that Takato's dad was giving them a look that made her uncomfortable. In that brief moment when they exchanged glances, she considered what they didn't know: the boy living with them was not their real son. They didn't know Takato was still missing. She wanted to tell them, to let them know that they should still be concerned. But...she couldn't bring herself to break that news to them. Especially not now when they had other things to attend to. Deciding not to dwell on it, she hurried after Takato up the stairs and stopped at the door to his bedroom. She had never been in a boy's room before and realized now why his dad gave them a weird look.

It was a simple room too - an elevated bed over a dresser, a desk for doing homework, and a mess of clothes everywhere. Some of it including boy's underwear. She tried to avoid looking at it as Takato unloaded everything he had in his backpack onto the floor, grabbed his cards, and retrieved what looked like a box of smoke bombs from under his bed.

"Where do you keep getting all those?" she asked sheepishly. He stuffed as many as he could into his bag, "This is Shinjuku! Where aren't I finding these? Open up your bag and make some room."

"Uh...um...yeah," Juri unzipped her bag and held it open for him to stuff some smoke bombs in there for her, "Where did you even get the idea to use fireworks?"

"A friend of mine," Takato answered quietly, "Well, I think we were friends. Now that I think about it, she was mad at me a lot. That's not important. I got the idea from...um...something about pointy lights? It'll come back to me. Anyway, here."

Once her bag was stuffed with as much as it could carry, he zipped it for her and declared, "Alright! Let's go catch up with the others."

Juri nodded and followed him out the door, trying to ignore his dad as he called after them, "Don't stay out too late you two. Make sure he gets home safe Takato. And you better be back before dark!"

Juri was pretty sure she knew what he meant and shook her head in disbelief. Why did everyone keep thinking what they were thinking?

* * *

Rika, Renamon, Kazu, Kenta, and Guilmon arrived at the scene of the emerging digimon. Like before, there was a thick fog hanging over the air. On cue, she put on her glasses and searched around for whatever was coming through. Any of the four who were going to appear.

"So does anyone have any plans?" Kenta whimpered from behind her, "Because I don't."

"Wait and see," Rika answered firmly, keeping an eye on the fog as it expanded out in size. Any second now, they would be coming through. She tried to follow it carefully only to hear a soft growling from beside her - Guilmon was growling at the fog. The idiot. She tuned him out in time to see two figures dart out of the fog in opposite directions. Something that looked like a centaur but on a sheep's body, and another one that looked like a centaur with a bull's body. The two digimon landed on opposite sides of the street and started encircling the area to make sure it was safe before roaring. Then two more cake through - a monkey in a fez and a bipedal horse. The horse was so large, that simply landing on the street was enough to crack the pavement. There was no doubt. These were Devas. Rika signaled for everyone to get behind cover as they watched the four digimon begin to talk. The anticipation was killing her.

She was ready to fight but knew better than to try anything when they were outnumbered. She would just have to wait for now.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are four devas on the loose! Will Rika and the others be okay? Can they win against superior numbers? What are Yamaki and the rest of Hypnos doing to combat this? Find out all this and more in two weeks on Friday, June 14th at 5 PM CDT. I want to apologize in advance for the delay in the next update. The illness took me out longer than expected and I didn't do much besides lay in bed throwing up. Such is life. Anyway, I'm going to use this extra week to get some more writing and editing done. If you guys loved it, let me know in the reviews section! I try to reply as soon as I'm able. And hey, why not follow the story to keep up with updates and favorite it to show support? I've also gone to work setting up a tumblr to better interact with everyone! Feel free to give that a look. It's under the-digimon-tamer. That's all I have for now, so let's look at some previews!
> 
> He was stopped when a well thrown smoke bomb went off in his face, temporarily blinding him and leaving him defenseless. He retreated back to rejoin the sheep and the horse who came with him and roared, "Who did that? YOU DARE BLOW SMOKE AT ME! I'LL KILL YOU!"
> 
> Rika was pretty sure she knew who and got her answer when Juri appeared beside her with a bag full of smoke bombs, "We're back. Takato said take these and use them to make a quick escape if you need them."
> 
> Rika scowled, "Escape? Who does he think we are? Renamon and I aren't going to run from this!"
> 
> Juri tried to explain something to her but she was drowned out by the dumb goggle head's voice calling out to the massive digimon, "Sorry about that, Va...Va...Vaja...What was your name again? Something with a 'V'. I want to say Vajamas."


	17. Tamers Vs Devas

Yamaki and his team drove back to headquarters in their white van. He was still thinking on how Takaishi had managed to evade them by passing through a chain link fence. His team was missing something but what was it? He was pulled from his thoughts when his cellphone started ringing, "This is Yamaki."

"Sir," it was Riley. She sounded alarmed and spoke in a near panic, "We've got four large digital signals moving to bioemerge. They're going to appear right in the middle of the Shinjuku."

Yamaki pauses at the sound of that. Four? They struggled to contain one at a time, but four? Would they even be able to handle that? No. They would have to. There was no choice.

"Copy that, send me the coordinates and notify the QRF. Have them deploy the big guns. I'll take our field agents and try to contain the situation," Yamaki answered, hanging up the phone and tapping the driver, "Change of plans. We got four wild ones bioemerging nearby. We need to intercept and contain. QRF will arrive shortly after us."

"Sir, we're not equipped to intercept any wild ones," one of the field agents pointed out. Yamaki nodded, knowing they'd only brought side arms and handcuffs. None of them had body armor, or any weapons with enough punch to hurt these things. But that wasn't a reason to turn around, "We're not going to fight them, we're going to save as many civilians as we can and set up a perimeter to keep those things inside."

"With what sir?" the agent asked nervously. Yamaki flicked the man on the forehead, "Don't forget why we're doing this. Enough people have died because of these things. We save who we can, even if we're at risk."

"Yes sir," the agent nodded nervously. Yamaki wished he could buy into his own speech but was just as nervous. He'd seen these things for himself and knew they had nothing to actually harm them. It didn't help that he was now thinking of the time he pulled a gun on a kid. Granted it was a bluff, but he was ready to kill a kid. That kid called him out on his bluff. This time, there would be no bluffing. Lives were on the line and there was no time to hesitate for any of it.

* * *

The four Devas took a moment to take in their surroundings. This was the human world - and the stink of it was something else. They turned their noses in disgust from the smell, but they couldn't turn back now. Mihiramon, Sandiramon, and Sinduramon had all disappeared shortly after arriving in this world and there was still no sign of the Catalyst. They needed the catalyst now more than ever! Without it, the Digital World was doomed. Failure was not an option for them. They had to find it no matter what and return him to the Digital World.

That's why they were here. Pajiramon the Sheep Deva, Indramon the Horse Deva, Makuramon the Monkey Deva, and Vajramon the Bull Deva.

All four devas took a moment to steady themselves, trying to overcome the disorientation that came with crossing the boundary between worlds. There was a lot of screaming and panic that didn't help though. The humans were just so painfully loud and obnoxious. Vajramon growled and raised up his axes, "Let's end these humans and find the catalyst already."

"We must take care, dear Vajramon," Makuramon slapped the bull's side, "Don't forget, we're not the first to come here. If we are careless, we will most likely meet the same fate as our allies. If we do this right, then we'll go home alive and be hailed as heroes by our lords."

"I doubt tact and subtlety will work in our favor. These foolish humans haven't stopped screaming since we first arrived," Pajiramon pointed out for them, "Maybe they killed themselves in frustration. I just might if these humans don't stop screaming soon."

Indramon grunted under his breath and started walking, "Let's just hurry and find it. The sooner we go back to the Digital World, the better. Where do we go first?"

"We look for the tallest building in sight, climb on top, and try to spot it of course," Makuramon said matter of factly, "Don't you agree, Vajramon? Vajramon? I'm talking to you! Don't you ignore me!"

Vajramon was looking off at a car in the distance with three humans sticking their heads out of the corner. Aside from the fact that they weren't running screaming in the opposite direction, what stood out most was the Renamon and the strange red dinosaur beside them. Digimon. With human partners. Digidestined? No, they were far too young. The Tamer? Possible.

Makuramon remarked, "Well, won't this be interesting. What do you think, fellow Devas?"

"I think we should test their mettle," Vajramon drew his axes from his side. Makuramon rolled his eyes, "Of course you would say that. Have fun my dear deva, I'm off to scout the area. Play nice and I'll meet up with you shortly!"

Makuramon leapt onto the rooftops and vanished. Pajiramon clicked her tongue distastefully, "He says he's going to scout but I bet he just ran from the first fight we were going to have."

"He might have the right idea. The others aren't around anymore," Indramon grunted, "Maybe these humans had something to do with it."

"Then let's return the favor," Vajramon roared, charging forward with his axes out. Pajiramon reaches out to grab him but it was too late. They hadn't come for a battle but they had one.

* * *

Rika gasped and pulled Kazu and Kenta out from the cover behind the car, "Here he comes! Guess we don't have a lot of time. Renamon!"

"I'll draw his attention," Renamon raced ahead to meet the deva. Guilmon followed just behind her, spewing out fireballs to force Vajramon on the defensive, "PYROSPHERE!"

Vajramon used the flat end of his axes to absorb the attack and continued charging forward. Renamon used that opening and leapt out of the way onto a street light. He was too busy blocking the fire balls from the front which meant he wouldn't expect an attack from above, "DIAMOND STORM!"

The crystals appeared around her and rained down on the bull digimon from above. They hit their mark but he didn't seem to even care that he was being attacked. Whatever level he was at was enough to make their attacks ineffective. Still, they had his attention split between the two of them. If they played their cards carefully, they might be able to keep him on the-

"GGRRRAAARRRGGGHHH!" Guilmon roared out as he ran at the large bull digimon without a thought for his own safety. Renamon cursed their luck. What was the idiot thinking? He was running straight into danger for no reason. Wait, maybe he didn't even realize what he was doing. He was just a baby compared to her after all. The bull deva wasn't going to wait for him to think things through more clearly - he picked up his axe to prepare for the attack and dragged it along the ground in preparation for a swing. She hurried off the light post and pushed him out of the way of the incoming attack, "Don't get too close, you idiot. He could end you in one attack!"

Guilmon didn't listen to a word she was saying, too busy growling at Vajramon while she tried to carry the big dinosaur back, "Rika, what should we do?"

"Hold the line, that's what!" Rika said, producing her cards from her deck, "Let's give you a speed boost to help! DIGIMODIFY! Speed Boost, Activate!"

Renamon took off at blinding speed and dropped Guilmon off at the end of the street to keep him away from the attacking bull digimon. It was just them now - her against the bull. Thankfully, the other devas were keeping their distance. One at a time was going to be a lot better than all at once. She wasn't sure she could fight them all at once like that. But why weren't they coming to his aid?

The bull growled, "You're fast. Good. A sitting target is no fun for me."

"All this attention for little old me?" Renamon teased, zigzagging her way towards the bull digimon to bait him into swinging his axes. Once she was close enough, she leapt into the air and kicked the bull straight in the chest. The speed helped her give enough impact to hurt the bull and kick him back into a nearby building. She cheered, "Take that!"

The bull smiled, "A strong hit. I'm excited now! I was hoping for a good fight!"

Rika shuffled through her deck to find some more cards she could use but found nothing helpful. At least, nothing that would help her end this quickly. This was going to be a fight of attrition - because once he was down, there were two more devas she'd have to fight through. Just where were the others?

"Hey! Rika! Here!" Kazu piped up and produced a card for her. She snatched it away and saw a weapon armament that would give Renamon an advantage she would sorely need. She readied to swipe it and called out, "Get ready for another boost Renamon! Digimodify! Snimon's Twin Sickles, Activate!"

The card went through and a pair of twin sickles appeared in Renamon's hands. Combined with her speed boost, Renamon had all the advantage she needed to go on the offensive and stay there. The giant bull digimon was just barely able to keep up with her, swinging away his axes to no avail. He growled angrily at his own ineffectiveness, while Renamon continued to leap and weave through his attacks. She took every opening she could to cut away at his arms and deal more damage to the massive bull's frame until he'd had enough and slammed his axes onto the ground with all his might, "TERRA BLADE!"

The pavement cracked under the weight of his attack, shattering the road and exposing the subway underneath and the sewer line beneath that. The impact generated enough of a shock wave to throw Renamon off her balance and send her flying into a nearby building, smashing through the glass window and disappearing inside.

Rika gasped, "Renamon!"

"Worthy opponent," the bull growled, "I know you're still there! Come out and face-"

He was stopped when a well thrown smoke bomb went off in his face, temporarily blinding him and leaving him defenseless. He retreated back to rejoin the sheep and the horse who came with him and roared, "Who did that? YOU DARE BLOW SMOKE AT ME! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Rika was pretty sure she knew who and got her answer when Juri appeared beside her with a bag full of smoke bombs, "We're back. Takato said take these and use them to make a quick escape if you need them."

Rika scowled but graciously took the smoke bombs provided, "Escape? Who does he think we are? Renamon and I aren't going to run from this!"

Juri tried to explain something to her but she was drowned out by the dumb goggle head's voice calling out to the massive digimon, "Sorry about that, Va...Va...Vaja...What was your name again? Something with a 'V'. I want to say Vajamas."

* * *

Impmon leapt to a stop on top of the building and gazed down at the panicked streets below, wondering what had gotten the humans worked up so far. When he saw the humans and their digimon partners, he had a good idea why. But without all the smoke obscuring his vision, he had no idea what they were going on about. Annoyed at not knowing what was going on, he leapt down to join Renamon and asked, "Hey! What's going on? Did yous guys start fightin' each others or what?"

"Now isn't the time, Impmon," Renamon answered, keeping her focus squarely on the fog. Her red haired human partner asked, "Do you know this guy, Renamon?"

"Unfortunately," was all she had to say. Impmon was miffed now, "Hey! Is you disrespectin' me?"

"Impmon, now is really not a good time," Renamon said again. Impmon scoffed, folding his arms and staring into the fog, "So what's causing all the noise? Who's in there?"

"Rika!" another girl appeared, running to join them and stopping at the sight of him, "Oh…um…hello. Who are you?"

"Not your business, human," Impmon snapped, pointing a finger angrily at her. Renamon answered for her, "This is Impmon. He's being a nuisance, right now. I thought you were supposed to be smart? Well be smart and let's talk another time."

"It's nice to meet you, Impmon," the other girl smiled, while Renamon's partner commented, "He seems kinda weak."

"Whoa! Cool! Another digimon! Is he a Deva, too?" a boy wearing glasses called out, joining them. Impmon was peeved now. Who were these kids and where did they keep coming from? It didn't help that the one with the visor commented, "He looks kinda shrimpy, though. I bet he's too weak to actually pack a punch like the big guy over there."

"I'll show you weak," Impmon snapped his fingers and produced a fireball. Without looking, he chucked it as hard as he could into the smoke, "BADABOOM!"

The small fire shot straight through and broke the fog apart, revealing a large digimon on the other side. Three large digimon, to be exact. Realizing too late how big of a mistake he'd made, Impmon cried, "OH, THAT IS TWENTY POUNDS OF NOPE IN A ONE POUND BAG! LATER TOOTS! I'M OUT!"

He retreated as fast as he could. He may have wanted to be stronger, but he wasn't stupid. He wasn't about to pick a fight with a digimon that big and strong. He didn't even look back as he retreated. If he was lucky, he could get away before they finished fighting each other.

* * *

Henry ran along as fast as he could, carrying Terriermon in one hand and Xiaochun in the other. For all her talk of wanting to come too, she became tired the moment she was down the block. And they had no time to lose! He was so busy running, that he didn't see the man around the corner until he bumped into him and fell on the ground. Thankfully, Terriermon and Xiaochun were okay but his cards were scattered everywhere. As he scrambled to get them together, he apologized, "I'm sorry, sir. Sorry, I was in a…rush…"

He looked up and saw the man was gone. He looked around and saw that he'd disappeared. There was no time to dwell on it. He finished gathering the last of his cards when Xiaochun offered him some, "Here, Henry! You dropped this!"

"Thanks," he said, trying to reorganize his deck and stuff it back into his pocket. He scooped up Terriermon and Xiaochun again, glad that bother Terriermon and Calumon were able to keep up their stuffed doll act. They had to hurry.

* * *

Vajramon couldn't believe the disrespect he was hearing. From a human no less. He growled, "I am Vajramon! Who are you to-"

The human had the audacity to interrupt him before he even finished, "-to know you. Hi there, Takato Matsuda. I think. Look, it's not important. I'm a Guardian and you guys are Devas. We did all this with the other Devas. Look, can we fast forward past the fighting and the angry growling, and just talk? For like a minute? Please?"

Vajramon leered into the smoke as it cleared and saw…a boy who was shorter than the rest of the human children present. He was possibly the shortest of the group, wearing a blue hoodie and some yellow goggles on his head. In spite of everything he saw, the human was standing there with his hands in the air in a mock form of surrender as he added, "There are no tricks, and you can tell I'm not anything resembling a threat. All I want to do is talk. If you guys will let me, that is. Or you could blow me away. And I don't have enough words to appreciate how much I don't want to be blown apart. It'd be a bad day for everyone."

Vajramon looked over his shoulder at Indramon and Pajiramon - Indramon didn't seem to care while Pajiramon was intrigued. The sheep digimon stepped forward, "And what did you want to talk about?"

"You're…um…Pandamon? No, that's not it…Pajamalamamon! No, that's not it either," the boy scratched his head, "Sorry, my head's all fuzzy. What's your name again?"

"Pajiramon," she replied calmly, as if talking to an old friend, "I presume you know us because of the other Devas. The ones who came before - Mihiramon, Sinduramon, and Sandiramon?"

"Yeah, that's right," he said starting to walk forward. Then that curious red dinosaur charged in to stand in front of him, growling at them threateningly. Vajramon readied his weapons in preparation for a fight but the dinosaur calmed down when Takato petted his head, "It's okay buddy. We're just talking."

"Are you sure?" the dinosaur asked uneasily, keeping a wary eye on the Devas. Still, he nodded, "If you say so Takatomon."

Vajramon lowered his axes while Pajiramon continued her talking, "Tell me, what happened to the others? They were sent here to find the catalyst. We've heard nothing from them since."

He noted the boy hesitate as he answered, "In order: we killed Mihiramon and Sandiramon, but we couldn't avoid it. Mihiramon tried to bring a building down in the middle of the city and Sandiramon wouldn't stop attacking us. Neither of them wanted to listen and one of them was trying to eat us. As for Sinduramon, he was more talkative and I really think I could've gotten through to him until he fell into a river. That was an accident by the way, we didn't do anything. If anything, it's kinda sad that he went that way."

Vajramon growled under his breath and felt his grip tighten around his axe. The humans killed the others! Worse, they were making excuses for it. Sinduramon falling into the river made sense, he always was a bold idiot. But Mihiramon and Sandiramon? That had to be intentional! They wouldn't fall to their deaths into water. No, they were murdered and this human was going to pay the price. All he wanted was an excuse now.

"BADABOOM!"

A small ball of fire shot through the smoke and struck him from the chest. It scratched his armor slightly, but he barely felt. He followed the fire's trail all the way back to the other side of the smoke and saw a small Impmon on the other side with a smug smile. As soon as they made eye contact, his smile vanished and he darted to run. This was just the excuse he wanted. This was a trick to take them off their guard. And it had failed. He raised his axe to attack when Takato asked, "Who was that?"

"He wasn't with you?" Pajiramon asked.

"Never seen him before," Takato shrugged, "I thought he was with you."

"Obviously not," Vajramon growled.

Pajiramon place a hand on his axes and guided them down, gesturing to him to stop, "Put those down, Vajramon. Perhaps we got off on the wrong hoof. Let us introduce ourselves: I am Pajiramon, this is Vajramon, and over there is Indramon. We're not interested in unwanted squabbles. All we want is to find the catalyst."

"Yes, we know. Why? Sinduramon gave us a small explanation but it wasn't much. Some old, unknowable evil. Might as well have said the enemy for as useful as that was," the Takato human answered quietly, "But you sent the catalyst here first. If this evil is so bad, why not use it first and then send it away to keep it safe? What exactly is going on in the Digital World?"

"Who are you for caring?" Pajiramon asked curiously, approaching the human child with arms folded. The Takato human frowned, "I already said, I'm a Guardian. Guardian of Destiny? Ancient? Sage of Data? Sentinel of History? Cyber Forebears? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Yes, but which one?" Pajiramon asked again. Vajramon looked at her when she asked that question, unsure of what possessed her to ask. The human had just said so why was she asking? Pajiramon went on, "You look like a human child, but you talk like you're much older. And there's something else: a weariness in your eyes that I don't see among the other humans. So who are you?"

The human boy looked away for a moment, obviously pained by that question. Even the other human children who were present looked on with quiet curiosity, obvious wanting to know what his answer was. He sighed and said, "Oh come on, Pajiramon. I thought you were the smart one. Piece it together already!"

Pajiramon's eyes widened as she examined him more closely. Goggles, a blue hoodie, messy brown hair, and an annoying personality. It couldn't be. But it fit so well. Her silence made Vajramon asked, "What is it?"

She looked at him, still reeling from the realization, "Vajramon. He's-"

"OPEN FIRE!"

A hail of bullets fired at them.

* * *

"NO!" Takato shouted out, unable to say another word as Renamon appeared beside him. She grabbed the boy and Guilmon, then retreated away to safety, "Why do you two keep putting yourselves in dangerous situations?"

Takato wasn't paying attention to her, calling out, "Who did that? Who attacked!?"

She retreated back to an empty bus, setting them down beside the others and peering around the corner. Takato continued to panic, "Who's doing that?"

"It was those guys!" Kazu pointed out to a group of armed men in black combat gear firing rifles at the three large Devas. Above were a pair of helicopters circling around the digimon, firing guns from their sides that riddled the Devas with bullets. Takato clicked his tongue angrily, "Oh, now these guys show up. Okay, we need to end this quickly and stop anyone from killing each other. How do-"

"Are you kidding me?" Rika snapped at the boy, "We need to save our world and kick these guys out!"

"GUYS!" Henry shouted out, running up to them with a little girl holding Calumon. Kazu shouted, "Seriously? Did you just bring a little girl to this?"

"That little girl is my sister," Henry snapped back at them, taking cover with them behind the bus, "Guys, this is Xiaochun. Xiaochun, this is Takato, Guilmon, Rika, Renamon, Juri, Kazu, and Kenta."

"Henry, who are those guys? What's going on?" Xiaochun asked innocently, peeking out from behind the bus to see the armed men shooting at the devas. Henry pulled the girl back behind the bus, "Stay back, it's not safe. Okay, Calumon - you need to help our partners digivolve!"

"I don't think I can," Calumon shook fearfully, but Henry went on, "We've seen you do it before. You can do it again. But you need to do it now. If you don't, those people are going to get hurt. Those digimon are going to get hurt."

"Terra Blade!"

"Thunder Stomp!"

Vajramon and Pajiramon struck the ground hard enough to shake the soldiers onto their backs. Then Indramon charged them, throwing a few of them aside, "HUMANS! YOU DARE ATTACK US!?"

Seeing this caused Takato to panic further, "We can't just sit back and watch this happen. Calumon, you need to help us out now!"

"I can't," Calumon shook. Takato groaned in frustration and produced some smoke bombs from his bag, "Never mind. Plan C. Wing it."

"Plan C?" Rika scowled, "What was Plan B? Heck, what was Plan A!?"

His answer only annoyed her more, "Plan A was talk it out. Plan B was Calumon."

He dashed ahead with Guilmon, leaving them behind. Kazu asked, "I know we normally don't participate in these fights but does he usually just run in like that?"

"Usually? He does it all the damn time," Rika snapped, "Renamon, keep those idiots from getting hurt."

"Understood," Renamon cried out as she ran in after the two idiots, annoyed that she had been reduced to being their babysitter. Terriermon leapt up and announced, "I'm going to go help too!"

"Terriermon, wait!" Henry shouted after his partner. It only now seemed to register to his little sister that the situation was dangerous and she cried, "Terriermon? Oh no! Don't go Terriermon! You could get hurt!"

Terriermon wasn't listening to her anymore and ran in to attack. Henry couldn't blame his partner though - he'd been hesitant to let his partner into the fight before. But this time, his hesitation was because he didn't exactly have a plan on what Terriermon should do in this fight. He grabbed his deck and started shuffling through it quickly, trying to figure out what he could do to give his partner as much of a boost as he could.

He didn't need speed, he was too small to hit already. Power? These were devas. He could swipe this card three times and it wouldn't make much difference. WarGreymon's Brave Shield would definitely help. He could use it to protect himself - and make himself a giant walking target. Wait, he didn't have to use it to defend himself. And Indramon was getting awfully close to those soldiers. He called out, "Get ready Terriermon! Digimodify! WarGreymon's Brave Shield Activate!"

The large shield appeared in Terriermon's palms and he immediately tripped over its weight, "Henry! What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Throw it between Indramon and those soldiers! Nobody has to die!" Henry shouted. Terriermon nodded and spun in place, throwing it like a frisbee towards the street in front of the soldier Indramon was staring down. The shield slammed into the ground and dug into the asphalt. Indramon turned towards Terriermon, "Stay out of our way, little digimon, or we will end you."

"How about you pick on someone your own size?" Terriermon shouted back. His tune changed as soon as Indramon started walking his way and Terriermon to run, "I said someone your size! I'm not your size! Leave me alone!"

"Someone like me! Pyrosphere!" Guilmon roared, spitting out a ball of fire his way. The fireball bounced off the massive digimon's frame and he massaged where he was hit like it was nothing. Then he pressed on towards Guilmon. Finally coming to his senses enough to realize he was in trouble, Guilmon picked up Terriermon and fled from the massive digimon. Renamon took this chance to kick Indramon from behind and rain her attack down upon him, covering him in diamonds, "Diamond Storm!"

Indramon brushed off the attack like it was nothing and continued, bringing his massive arm down on Guilmon and Terriermon. The two digimon were sent flying through the air and rolled to a stop just in front of Xiaochun and Calumon. The little girl gasped in terror, and Henry tried to cover her eyes before she saw anything else, "Terriermon! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, did anyone get the number of that truck?" Terriermon whimpered from the pavement. At least he was still breathing but he needed to help his partner now. He stepped away and picked up Terriermon, and tried to stir Guilmon before the Indramon caught up to them. Thankfully, another smoke bomb went off around them - obscuring them and giving Kazu and Kenta a chance to run in, "What are you doing!?"

"We need to get them to safety!"

The two helped lift up Guilmon and began to carry him away, while Henry asked, "Where's Takato?"

"He ran at the sheep all by himself!" Kenta answered, "We have no idea what he was thinking!"

Henry looked off in the direction of the other two devas, trying to figure out what Takato was thinking. That guy was going to get himself killed! He looked over at Calumon, hoping that the little digimon would finally do whatever miracle he did before that made their partners digivolve to levels far above what they were. But they weren't going to put much distance between them as Indramn gained - forcing Renamon to put herself in the middle with her two scythes, "Leave them alone! I'm your opponent."

"Hmph. You're Vajramon's enemy, not mine," Indramon grunted, continuing on like nothing happened. Miffed at being ignored, Renamon charged at Indramon to go on the offensive. But her efforts were in vain against such a large opponent. There was no chance here. Just as Indramon caught up to them and they were sure they were going to bite it, Henry saw a flash of light from Xiaochun's direction.

* * *

Pajiramon worked in tandem with Vajramon to keep the attacking humans at bay and was annoyed that they kept using smoke to disappear before they could finish any of them off. The more smoke that went off, the harder it was to see until eventually the two Devas were forced to retreat back. Vajramon growled, "This is hardly the challenge I expected would defeat the others. Well, maybe Sandiramon. What do you think, Pajiramon?"

"I think we walked into a trick," Pajiramon scanned the fog until she saw a small boy standing there - the boy called Takato. She pointed at him, "You tricked us, didn't you? Using overtures of peace and talking to distract us."

"No, I swear this has nothing to do with me," Takato declared, gesturing to all the human soldiers, "I just wanted to talk, I have no idea who these others are. But you need to stop fighting. If all of you leave now, we can get to safety. This doesn't have to end violently, just please listen to me!"

"We're not listening to any thing else you have to say, human," Vajramon accused, "This ends now! RRRAARRGGHH!"

Vajramon charged forward at another set of humans with his axe drawn to attack. The human continued to plead, "Vajramon, please listen to me! This isn't-"

A bright flash of light from the side distracted his attention just long enough to make Vajramon stop midswing.

"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"

"Guilmon! Digivolve to! Growlmon!"

"Renamon! Digivolve to! Kyubimon!"

Right away, Pajiramon understood what had happened and her anger knew no bounds. Not only did the boy try to trick them, he also knew where the catalyst was! And if she were a betting deva, she would bet that this was why the other devas were dead now. Actually, this was a good thing. It meant that they could get what they need and retreat back to the Digital World before things went south. She shouted, "Vajramon, the catalyst! I'll deal with the liar."

"I'm not a liar!" the boy protested, "Just please, listen to me! PLEASE!"

Pajiramon's mind was made up and so was Vajramon. He ran to support Indramon while she rounded on the human boy, "I almost believed you, for a moment. I thought you might actually be him. The Digimon Tamer. But he would never stoop so low as to use tricks like you have."

The boy stared at her in silent disbelief, "You...really have no idea how wrong you are. In every sense of the word."

"PYRO BLASTER!" A blast of red fire shot through the smoke and struck Pajiramon from the side. The red dinosaur had digivolved and raced to help the boy, "Takatomon! Stay behind me!"

"No, get us out of here Growlmon," Takato shouted back. Growlmon scooped up the boy, taking care to mind his distance from Pajiramon. All the while, Takato pleaded, "Pajiramon please. I don't want any more digimon to get hurt. Just stop attacking and we can talk this out."

"I'm sure you told Mihiramon, Sinduramon, and Sandiramon the same thing before you ended them," she hissed back at him angrily. She charged after him and Growlmon took off at a run. The chase was afoot.

* * *

"Gargo Pellets!"

"Foxtail Inferno!"

The attacks hit their mark and sent Indramon sliding backwards. Both Kazu and Kenta cheered, joining Juri in popping smoke bombs at the large digimon to confuse it while Gargomon and Kyubimon ran circles around him. Without the ability to tell where the attacks were coming from, the digimon had no choice but to retreat back towards its ally. For a moment, it looked like they had the advantage. Until Vajramon turned to his side swinging his axe like a madman, "I know it's here! Where is the catalyst!"

Henry darted toward his little sister and Calumon; he needed to get them out of there before either digimon took notice of them, "Xiaochun! Run!"

"Henry! What's happening! I don't like this!" she whined, scared out of her mind as the situation got further and further out of control. Unfortunately, Vajramon took note of their attempted retreat and advanced on them, "Where are you going? We're not done here! Surrender the catalyst!"

"You're not going to, right?" Calumon pleaded. Henry pushed his little sister and Calumon ahead of him, ushering them to run, "No. Now run! Get as far away as you can!"

He turned to face the incoming Deva, shuffling through his deck to find a card that could save the day. But nothing. None of the cards he had were going to make much difference against deva. Gargomon started firing on the big guy to get his attention, but he was so fixated on Henry and Xiaochun that he didn't seem to care that the hail of bullets were raining on him. Kyubimon tried to come to their aid but was cut off by Indramon, "You're not going anywhere. You wanted to fight me. Well here I am!"

"Out of my way!" Kyubimon spat back at the deva angrily - hoping to end their fight quickly while Rika began swiping cards like crazy to give her an edge. Henry wished he could have that luck, or the sense to think that clearly in the heat of battle. But he fumbled his cards as he searched his deck and scrambled to pick them back up. That was when he found a single blue card hiding amongst them - one he hadn't seen before with the blocky drawing of a digimon on it. Wait, when did he get that card? That wasn't his card. When did...no, there wasn't time to think about it. It was a gamble, but it wasn't like he had any other options, "Digimodify! Activate!"

His digivice came to life with brilliant white light that shot out of its frame and arched on over to Gargomon. His partner rose into the air as the light absorbed him and his voice echoed out, "Gargomon! Digivolve to! Rapidmon!"

The light faded away to reveal a new digimon - something between a jester in metal armor and a rabbit armed with machines, clad entire in the color green. Two blue eyes poked out from inside his helmet marked by a single protruding horn. Henry felt a lump form in his throat from sheer awe of the his partner's Ultimate form. Xiaochun pointed at him, "Henry! Is that Terriermon? He's so cool!"

Henry was barely able to find the words to respond, watching as his partner slammed into Vajramon at top speed and aimed his arm cannons at his face, "Look at that! We're the same size now! RAPID FIRE!"

Vajramon howled in pain, Rapidmon's guns roaring like chainsaws as the bullets ripped apart his face. The brutality of it shocked Henry and he went to cover Xiaochun's eyes before she could see what he did. Once Rapidmon's bullets died down, Vajramon body took a step back to show a half missing face affixed in agony before he burst into data. As quickly as the data spread, Rapidmon went about absorbing the data in front of the other two devas who looked on in utter terror.

Then he saw the look of disapproval and sheer disgust on Takato's face as if he were trying to say something but couldn't bring himself to. He'd worry about that later. They'd just defeated Vajramon but there were still two more devas. And now that Vajramon was gone, they were definitely going to focus on Rapidmon.

"What should we do?" Indramon asked calmly, looking back at Pajiramon, "We're surrounded and they have the catalyst."

Pajiramon scowled at them - at him - and replied, "Retreat and regroup."

"Lick our wounds?" Indramon grunted until Pajiramon grabbed a hold of him, "We have no other choice. Now let's go you stubborn idiot!"

Before any of the others could act, a small fog enveloped the two digimon and they vanished as quickly as they came. He heard cheers coming from Kazu and Kenta, but his own heart pounding in his ears made it hard to find the positive in the situation. He turned to look for his sister, calling out for her, "Xiaochun, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she replied quietly, "Henry, why did you do that?"

Henry looked away from his sister, unsure of how to answer that question to her. He didn't like it and he wished Rapidmon hadn't been so quick to kill the deva but the deva was certainly going to kill them. And talking had failed the moment those other guys showed up. He tried to calm himself by taking slow, deep breaths - stilling his mind and bringing him back to the present moment. Then he noticed something he wished he hadn't - his dad standing there at the end of the block, staring at them in wide eyed disbelief. He gulped, "Dad?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Henry's been caught by his father. What happens next for our child heroes? What are the Devas going to do next? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next Friday on June 21st due out at 5 PM CDT. If you loved it, let me know in the comments section. And don't forget to bookmark and kudos the story to show support and keep up to date with the latest updates. Now let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> He sighed as he scampered along until he felt something staring from behind him. He ignored it at first, hoping it would go away on its own as he continued moving. When it didn't, he decided to let it chase him into a trap. He would show it what happens to anyone stupid enough to follow him. As he came upon an open area with only a single light post, he turned and fired a single fireball into the trees, "Bada Boom!"
> 
> The fire ball hit the tree branch he was just on and set it aflame, forcing whoever was following him to leap out to safety. A strange monkey digimon wearing a fez, "That wasn't very polite, now was it?"
> 
> "You's the one who's bin followin' me," Impmon retorted angrily, "Who are ya!?"
> 
> "My dear little rookie, I am a Deva," the monkey announced with all the bombast of a clown. Impmon turned his head and asked, "Okay, what is that and why should I care? Some kinda musician with an ego? Also, what's with the stupid hat?"


	18. His Dad's Secret

 

"What is all this? Why are…you and Xiaochun here?" his asked him, gazing at them and then at the digimon. Normally, Henry would've expected his father to be angry or even scared. But he seemed more confused, picking Xiaochun up and holding her tight. Whatever he was about to say next was cut off when a black attack helicopter appeared overhead, and he instead gestured away, "We'll talk about this later. We're getting out of here."

"Where are we going?" Henry asked anxiously and his dad replied, "Anywhere that isn't here. It's not safe. Let's go."

Henry looked back at the others, worried about what would happen to them and began, "But what about-"

"Henry, who's this guy?" Kenta asked aloud, appearing beside him silently and making him jump worse than the helicopter. Before Henry could even think to respond, Takato called out, "Guys! Let's talk later! We should run! No, wait! Split up. We'll meet up at the park."

Juri looked at him quizzically, "Why split up?"

"Because three large digimon moving separately are harder to track than a three large digimon moving together. Even harder when there's five! Use the smoke bombs to throw them off!" Takato explained quickly. He gestured to Growlmon to pick him and he took Kazu and Kenta with him as well, "Now let's go."

He dropped a smoke bomb and they watched the silhouette of the dinosaur run off down the street. Rika was quick to agree, "Makes sense. Juri, come with me and Kyubimon!"

The girl climbed up onto the fox and it took off for a sprint down the street, smoke bombs going off all around it to throw off the helicopters.

Rapidmon followed their lead, scooping up Henry and his family, "Let's get out of here!"

Before Henry could think to get another word in, Rapidmon ascended into the air and flew off down the street. Xiaochun let out cheers of delight, as did Calumon when the wind roared past their faces. Their dad on the other hand was less thrilled, visibly shaken and trying not to panic at suddenly being carried away. Rapidmon darted through the streets so fast that Henry was sure he'd swallowed a few bugs on the way. At least he didn't have to worry about suing smoke bombs at this speed.

* * *

Yamaki looked around the street in silent anger and frustration. More of those things had just made their way into the Real World. And once again, Hypnos was powerless to do anything about it. The QRF has been dispatched more easily than ever before, and none of them would even be alive if it hadn't been for the intervention of those kids. They used smoke to help the injured escape, while their own monsters distracted the attention of the larger ones.

He'd been trying to quit smoking for some time, but he couldn't stop himself from fiddling with his lighter - flicking the lid open and shut repeatedly. Something about the noise helped him think. What was going on here? Was this just a game to them? Did these kids not realize how serious the situation was? He needed to report back to HQ and prepare a cover story. That is, if he could even think of one.

This was on too big a scale to report as a freak accident and too small a scale to call a natural disaster. That was when he noticed a nearby security camera at the nearby building. They were screwed if any of the footage survived and leaked out. He suspected another long night ahead and Hypnos had its work cut out for them.

* * *

Kyubimon turned into the park just in time to regress back to her small frame of Renamon, letting Rika and Juri climb off before they fell to the ground. She took a knee immediately, needing a moment to catch her breath as she felt all of Rika's power-ups leave her. Then she noticed a bottle of water enter her field of vision - a gift from Juri. She looked to Rika for some sign of what to do, and took it when she nodded her approval. She was glad too - she was parched and drank it all in one go, "Thank you."

"Any time," she answered. Rika took the lead, "Come on. We'd better get away from the entrance while we wait for goggle head and the others to get here."

"Y-yeah, right," Juri nodded, following just a few paces behind her. Renamon had already done her vanishing act, disappearing to wherever she went to when she wasn't needed. They stopped at the stairs leading up to the shed where goggle head kept his partner, and Rika rested herself against a tree with her arms folded. She noticed Juri fidgeting nervously like she wanted to say something, and she eventually grew impatient with it, "Whatever you're going to say, just spit it out already."

"I was just...um, thinking of something to talk about," she answered meekly, "We don't really talk, y'know."

Rika frowned, recalling that she wasn't the most sociable person anyway and didn't know how to talk to girls her own age, "Let's just sit in the quiet for a little bit."

That didn't stop Juri from continuing to fidget, and Rika sighed, "What?"

"I...um...well," Juri paused, reaching into her backpack to produce a sock puppet. She slid it into her hand and held it out to face Rika, looking away and speaking while moving its mouth, "Juri thinks you and Renamon were really cool back there. You were awesome."

Right. She forgot that this girl would do this sometimes, as weird as it was. She unfolded her arms and asked, "What's with the puppet?"

"The superintendent says what Juri can't," the sock puppet answered. Rika couldn't believe it. Was she really supposed to have a conversation with a freaking sock puppet of all things? She clicked her tongue, "Well, superintendent. I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now. If Juri has anything to say to me, she can say it."

"Woof."

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Okay, I'm not doing this," Rika snatched the sock puppet out of Juri's hand, "What's your deal? You're not a coward, otherwise you would be running from all the fighting digimon like everyone else is. Are you just crazy? You gotta be. Because you don't seem to have a problem talking to anyone else."

Juri looked away sheepishly, "I...only really talk to Takato. I don't say much to the others."

"Huh?" Rika had to seriously think about that. Did she really only talk to the goggle head? Birds of a feather, she supposed. He wore those dumb things on his face and she loved to talk with the freaking puppet. She tried to think of times when Juri openly spoke with the others and was surprised to realize that she couldn't think of any. Then she remembered the book she'd read. There was no way Juri knew what she was up for against Takato if he was who he said he was, "Why the goggle head?"

"I don't know...but it's not like that or anything," Juri answered quickly. Rika rolled her eyes at the idea of anyone actually liking goggle head. The last thing she wanted was to talk about the goggle head in that sense. If anything, she'd warn him. But when all the others were here so that she wouldn't have to explain herself again. So she brought it back to Juri for now, "Okay, then what's the deal with this puppet?"

"I...um...well..." Juri paused for a moment, until Rapidmon slammed into the ground beside them. He released Henry, Xiaochun and their dad before regressing to Terriermon. That didn't stop the little girl from squealing, "Yay! Again! Again!"

"Yeah! Again! Do it again!" Calumon added. Terriermon flopped back onto sidewalk and groaned, "No thanks. I think I'm going to nap now."

"Aw," Xiaochun and Calumon whined. Henry waved at the two girls calmly, "Glad to see you made it alright."

"Likewise," Rika nodded, noticing his dad had begun pacing anxiously around Terriermon. It looked like he was just as lost for words as Juri was when it came to anything. With every step, Henry grew visibly more worried until finally his dad asked, "Has Terriermon always been alive?"

"Y-yeah," Henry answered sheepishly, scooping up his partner to protect him from his dad's increasing predatory inquisitiveness. His dad's tone was more curious than dangerous. Like he'd been given a puzzle that he was trying to solve, "So if he wasn't a doll you stole from a girl-"

Rika noticed Juri fidget at that statement.

"-then where did he come from?"

"Would you believe from out of my computer when I first played that game you got me?" Henry answered rather sheepishly. His dad shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, "So he's only been around a few weeks. How?"

"From my perspective, I was in the Digital World one second and here the next," Terriermon answered, cracking open just one eye so he could get a look at Henry's dad. Henry's dad continued to stare at Terriermon in disbelief, "I don't understand though. How did all of this happen?"

Henry needed a second to take a deep breath before answering, "We've been trying to figure that out. We already know why they're coming here - they want Calumon because he's some kind of power source in their world and they need that power because there's some kind of danger in their world that needs defeating."

He gestured at the little guy in Xiaochun's arms, and Calumon waved excitedly, "Hello."

His dad grunted, "That's not what I meant. I mean...this was all a kid's toy franchise! From a book! Based on a computer program some friends and I made up in college."

Rika turned over to look at them now, finally curious about what they were saying. Henry asked, "Dad, what are you talking about? You've seen the digimon for yourself! This is all real."

Henry's father sighed and went on to say, "No, no. See, Henry back when..."

His dad paused like he was giving consideration to something before stating, "No. We'll talk about this when the rest of your friends get here. I want to be sure they're all safe before I get any of you involved in this."

"Gee, doesn't that sound familiar," Rika rolled her eyes and made sure they all knew that she disapproved. He was talking exactly like goggle head and the last thing they needed was another goggle head running around. However, she was no different for keeping something to herself. She wanted to wait for the others to get here but decided against waiting any longer, "Since we're here, there's something I need to tell you guys."

She had their attention now as they waited for her, "I found a copy of the original book of the Digimon novels. It's a lot different from the one that became a show. A lot different…it's almost a different kind of story. But that's not the important part. The important part is this: if Takato really is who he says he is, we can't trust him."

"Why not?" Henry asked, his dad even curious now. Rika frowned, "It'd take some time to explain and I'll tell you guys about it later. What's important is we can't trust him or anything he says. I don't think he's going to betray us or turn on us, but I don't think we can count on him to help us either if things go south. But don't tell him I said that. Got it?"

She made sure to look at Juri when she said it, worried the girl might let something slip. They all nodded but Juri took a second longer than the others. It seemed everyone but Henry's dad was going to be cool about this. Before anyone could ask her any questions about what she'd just said, Growlmon came running in with Takato, Kazu, and Kenta on his back. All three boys leapt off as the digimon finally returned to his smaller form, "I'm tired. I'm hungry! Takatomon, can we eat?"

Kenta looked back down at the entrance to the park, "Was this a good idea? What if someone calls the police? There's no way nobody saw Growlmon."

Takato seemed unconcerned and remarked, "What cop is going to go after a giant red dinosaur when there must be hundreds of people calling in monster sightings right now? They'll follow a ton of false leads and miss us. As long as we weren't followed, I think we're safe."

Kazu nearly shouted in frustration, "Okay, well what about those crazy government guys!? The ones with the guns who were shooting at those Devas?"

"That's a good point. All the more reason to go hide in the shed now before anyone notices us!" Takato pointed ahead and hurriedly tried ushering Guilmon on. He stopped to ask Henry, "I'm guessing you don't want Terriermon to hide out here now that your dad knows?"

Henry vaguely nodded and Takato hurried on without him, "Right. Be back soon."

An awkward moment followed as Henry's dad commented, "Your friend is an odd one."

"He's just like that. It's better not to think about it," Kazu explained.

* * *

Impmon made his way through the park, leaping from one tree to the next to get as far away from the angry digimon as possible. He enjoyed watching the humans fleeing for their lives, mostly because it was funny to watch these strange creatures become aware of their own mortality. He was a little envious of their carefree life, and wished he could've been born into such a life. But he also didn't forget what that carefree life brought - laziness, child like bickering, and a refusal to cooperate. In a way, it was as bad as living in the Digital World.

He sighed as he scampered along until he felt something staring from behind him. He ignored it at first, hoping it would go away on its own as he continued moving. When it didn't, he decided to let it chase him into a trap. He would show it what happens to anyone stupid enough to follow him. As he came upon an open area with only a single light post, he turned and fired a single fireball into the trees, "Bada Boom!"

The fire ball hit the tree branch he was just on and set it aflame, forcing whoever was following him to leap out to safety. A strange monkey digimon wearing a fez, "That wasn't very polite, now was it?"

"You's the one who's bin followin' me," Impmon retorted angrily, "Who are ya!?"

"My dear little rookie, I am a Deva," the monkey announced with all the bombast of a clown. Impmon turned his head and asked, "Okay, what is that and why should I care? Some kinda musician with an ego? Also, what's with the stupid hat?"

"Oh poor, naive, stupid Impmon, that is a diva. A Deva is a servant to the lords of the Digital World," the monkey replied, "My name is Makuramon."

Impmon turned his head, unsure if he was supposed to know that name or be impressed by it. This monkey must've had a screw loose. That was fine by him, he didn't want anything to do with this digimon anyway. He turned to leave when the monkey shrieked, "Are you ignoring me?"

"That's one word for it," Impmon answered, making sure to present his middle finger for the monkey to see. The monkey clocked his tongue angrily, "You insolent little...I'll make an example out of you so that all will know what happens when you insult the Devas! Primal Orb!"

It threw a ball of light at him and Impmon dodged to the side to get out of its way, "If'n it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you's got! Bada Boom!"

He whipped another small ball of fire at the monkey, hitting his mark and watching the branch go up in flames. Bulls-eye! Impmon smiled with satisfaction until he heard a mocking giggle behind him, "Mayhaps you underestimated me."

"What!?" Impmon sounds around to see Makuramon standing there with a wide smile on his face, "Allow me to give you a lesson in combat! My hands move faster than your eyes!"

He started throwing punches which Impmon was just barely able to dodge until the monkey took a cheap shot and swept his legs with his tail, "But you should have been watching my tail!"

Impmon landed flat on his back, and the monkey crushed his chest by stepping on it. The wind rushed out his mouth and pain burned through his torso. This was it. He was going to be absorbed. That was the way of the Digital World. He looked up and saw Makuramon's smile. But for some reason, he wasn't deleting him. Why?

"Just end it already," Impmon spat out at the monkey, prompting him to ease off, "Now why would I do that? I am a Deva after all. Absorbing you would barely adjust my strength in any way. I'd get stronger by doing my morning stretches. My simple, pathetic Impmon, you're so pathetic that the effort I'd spend to end you outweighs both the benefit and the joy I'd get out of it."

"You said pathetic twice. Running out of words?" Impmon stuck his tongue out at the monkey for mocking him, preferring death to whatever this was. Then the monkey smiled, "But worry not my precocious Impmon for I may still find some use for you."

Impmon rolled his eyes, "Sure, whateva you say."

The monkey stepped off Impmon's chest, but he was in too much pain to think about getting up. For such a small monkey to cause that much hurt, he was either heavier than he looked or stronger. The monkey bowed and went on to add, "So what would you say to helping me help you?"

"What?" Impmon raised an eyebrow, turning his head slightly to get a better look. The monkey smiled, "What do you know about a group of human children and rookie level digimon working together?"

* * *

Henry couldn't help but feel ashamed at the state of the shed when they were all gathered. His dad had been there for less than a minute and was already disgusted at the smell, the hole in the center of the floor full of bread, and the piles of what he hoped was exclusively Guilmon's business in the corner. Henry's dad adjusted his glasses, "Please tell me you guys don't make your home here. It's unsanitary!"

"It wasn't my first choice for hiding places," Takato answered, while Henry could only sheepishly add, "And I was pretty sure you wouldn't believe me if I said Terriermon was real."

"I knew something was wrong from the moment he showed up but I never expected this," his dad replied, "And all you kids are involved in this?"

"You bet! And we've been doing a pretty good job if I say so myself," Kazu jumped on the chance to finally tell someone all about the digimon, until Kenta added, "You mean they've doing a good job. We don't have digimon like they do."

Kazu grunted disapproval, folding his arms and shooting a nasty look at Kenta, which he didn't even notice. Henry scratched the back of his head anxiously, noting the look of expression of exasperation and bewilderment on his father's face. He wanted to ask what was wrong but was unsure how to phrase the question without getting himself into trouble until Xiaochun asked, "Daddy, why do you know about digimon?"

"Know them? Sweetie, I created them!" his dad blurted out. Henry felt his jaw drop open, and everyone else in the room did the same, looking at him with faces that shouted ' _why didn't you tell us?_ '. He didn't know. He never knew. There were so many questions running through his head right now, "Why didn't you tell us dad?"

His dad could only offer a half shrug, "I didn't think it mattered. It's not like I've been involved with it since college. Digimon aren't what they used to be when I was in college."

Takato interrupted skeptically, "You didn't make digimon. You _couldn't_ have. The Digital World...digimon...they've been around for millions of years. I know time dilation sis happen, but no time dilation could explain that."

"You're a millennia old being from another world. Now isn't the time to be skeptical. Especially not you," Henry pointed out. Henry was sure his dad was about to give Takato the scolding of his life and was amazed to see Takato was calm about this. Never mind that his tone was rude, his dad was going to let him have it. Only he didn't. His dad just scratched his head, "The Digital World's not thousands of years old...I mean, computer programs run cycles that are faster than anything we could ever experience. I suppose that means time moves faster there. But that's besides the point. Digimon are only a couple of decades old."

"No, we aren't," Renamon appeared from nowhere to offer an opinion, to the surprise of his dad, "I know of digimon who exceed your age by millennia."

Henry could feel the tension rising as Renamon advanced on his dad. And why wouldn't she? She probably just heard the equivalent of being told the earth was flat! His dad might be intimidating to him, but he was sure no digimon was ever going to be intimidated by the man. Henry quickly tried to change the subject, "When exactly did you make the digimon, dad?"

His dad sighed, massaging his neck as he thought of where to start, "It's a bit of a long story so I'll try to be as brief as I can. I was in college in the 80's, some friends and I began work on an artificial intelligence project for our masters program. We created artificial intelligence capable of learning from its environment and adapting, then we attached the artificial intelligence into a program that simulated a predator-prey nature cycle. A real time, simulated food chain. Artificial selection. It was a marvel at the time: the individual programs were assigned to be either predatory or prey and were given the ability to reproduce. They also were given the ability to adapt - modify their own source code to give them better chances of survival and pass those modifications on to offspring. It was like watching evolution on fast forward. The simulation began to heavily favor some life over others. So we introduced a new program into the mix, one that would give minor boosts to disadvantaged life forms that encountered it to facilitate their survival. Think of it as a _catalyst_ for evolution."

The mere sound of that word made Henry look at Calumon. He noticed everyone else was looking at the little digimon; poor Calumon looked bored out of his mind like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

His dad went on, "It was beautiful! The different groups began to diversify at rate we'd never seen before, specializing in one trait or adapting new ones to give themselves an edge in survival. The breakthrough in artificial intelligence gave us quite a bit of prestige and attracted the attention of some high level government officials interested in using the program for defense purposes. That went nowhere, but the idea ended up inspiring the digimon franchise - books, toys, card games, a tv show, computer games."

"So what happened to the project?" Takato asked. His dad's expression soured after that, "We had to shut it down in the end because the government classified our project. We were all sworn to secrecy, although I guess that doesn't matter anymore. Before we did, we noticed a problem in the environment. The diversity began to plateau, sort of like it hit a glass ceiling, because some species were so well adapted that nothing could stand up to them. So we introduced a balance modifier, a program whose function was to maintain balance by culling programs if they were too powerful and too many - it helped maintain the artificial biodiversity. We called it Data Reaper or D-Reaper for short."

"Now it's all starting to make sense," he heard Takato mumble, taking a step towards the back and scratching his chin. Henry's dad sighed and went on to say, "But that was a long time ago. All the computers were confiscated by the government when the program was shut down. What I'm having trouble understanding is how this led to actual digimon coming to our world."

"What's there to understand?" Terriermon asked with a great big smile, "We exist. You made us. Is that weird?"

"It's just that! You're data! Lines of codes. A bunch of ones and zeroes on a computer. You shouldn't be able to exist in our world and yet here you are," Henry's dad gestured to Terriermon, "I'm sorry to ask this and I'm sorry if this comes across as too forward but I would like to have the chance to examine you in my lab at home. With your consent of course."

"Hah! Phrasing!" Terriermon said all too gleefully, his dad adjusting his collar uncomfortably at some joke he didn't understand. Henry patted his partner's head, "Moumantai, right? Why do you want to examine him, dad?"

His dad adjusted his glasses and looked at Terriermon more closely, "I'm curious. I have a question and I want to-"

"Takatomon, where are you going?" Guilmon asked aloud. Henry looked over at Takato fiddling with his digivice over the shed door, "I'm trying to turn on the scanner on the digivice. We need to find the Devas who ran."

"What? Are you looking to fight them now?" Rika asked incredulously. Henry couldn't believe it either. Takato had said everything was starting to make sense but he still didn't get it. Takato shook his head, smacking his digivice in frustration as it refused to cooperate with him, "This tech is so...frustrating. I'm not going to fight them, Rika. I'm going to talk to them."

"You keep trying to talk to them and it never works! So for once, will you come up with a plan where we don't talk first!" Rika pointed a finger at him. For the briefest moment, Takato looked up with a glare that made even Rika flinch, "No. I'm not going to fight first. If I can talk to them, explain, we can settle all our problems without taking any more lives! If you want to go around killing digimon, then that blood is on your hands. Because I do not want any on mine! Not any more. If the D-Reaper is coming back, if the Digital World is in real danger from it, then we need every digimon we can get to fight back against them!"

Kazu was the first one to answer, "Wait, you think the D-Reaper is the danger in the Digital World?"

Takato nodded, "It makes sense, doesn't it?"

Renamon frowned, "Enlighten us. How exactly does any of this even begin to make sense?"

Takato shook his head, "Come on, Renamon. I thought you were the clever one. At the very least, I thought you or Rika would be keeping up. Then again, Juri was the first one to hear Kari's name."

Renamon managed to retain her calm demeanor as she answered, "Are you suggesting that this man is right? That he created the Digital World - _My Digital World -_ and that everything I know is a lie? That my world is only twenty years old?"

"Why not? Anything is possible right now. Time is convoluted - twenty years in the Real World could be an eternity in the Digital World," Takato answered quickly, "Nothing is a lie at this point. Besides, if the Devas are willing to take us to the Digital World - we can see for ourselves first hand what this danger is."

"What?" Calumon answered first, followed by a chorus of confusion and surprise from the others. Henry had to admit, Takato had walked into this head first when he suggested all that. Especially since he was the one saying not to give Calumon to the Devas. Terriermon was the only one not surprised, because he was too busy admonishing Takato, "I thought you were crazy when we first saw you, and it's good to have some confirmation on the fact that you're insane."

"No, you're right. Guilmon and I should go by ourselves. That way, we won't all walk head first into a trap," Takato corrected himself, somehow missing the point of Terriermon's statement. Kazu wasn't one to pass up an opportunity to see the Digital World in person, "Are you kidding? Takato, if you're going to the Digital World, then I'm coming too! There's no way I'm passing up the chance to see it!"

"You've got to be kidding," Rika began massaging the bridge of her nose, "Goggle head, he's saying it'd be stupid to walk right up to them after we just fought them. They were trying to kill us a few moments ago! And Terriermon over there killed one of them! They'll attack us as soon as they see us!"

Takato nodded as if he understood what Rika and Terriermon were pointing out but Henry wasn't so sure about it. Before any of them could get another word in, his dad spun Takato around to face him, "None of you are going anywhere! You're just kids!"

"Hasn't stopped us before and I think we've been doing a good job, all things considered," Takato answered with a shrug, "Also, kid? I'm pretty sure I'm older than you."

Henry wasn't sure how his dad was going to answer that and, thankfully, it didn't look like he was going to try. He just powered past it instead, "You need to leave this to the proper authorities!"

"The proper authorities were the guys with the guns shooting at the Devas earlier," Takato countered, "And most of them would be dead if we weren't there. I think it's safe to say the only option for the world is us."

Henry saw the pained expression on his dad's face, the kind of look he had when he had to make difficult choices. He was definitely trying to come up with another reason why they shouldn't be involved in this. It didn't take him long to have something, "What about your families? Your parents and siblings? They'd be devastated if anything happened to you!"

That seemed to unnerve Kazu and Takato, but Rika seemed annoyed at that, "You're barking up the wrong tree there. My dad walked out and my mom is too busy with her fashion career to actually care about me. And I'm an only child."

His dad frowned, "They're still your family. You shouldn't throw yourself into danger like that."

"He's right," Takato frowned, finally agreeing with him. Kazu was quick to call him out, "Come on, are you serious? Now you have an issue?"

Takato looked up at Kazu seriously, "Sorry, I always forget about the family side of things. That's my fault. But remember how I said this was going to be dangerous? I wasn't lying. And you've seen it for yourselves. We probably shouldn't be keeping this secret from our parents, at least. All of us."

Henry marveled at the irony of this statement coming from him. He was probably the last person who should be saying any of that, especially since he had the most secrets of any of them. Then he remembered what Rika said. Don't trust him or anything he said. She hadn't explained why either and that bothered him.

* * *

Juri walked back home with Kazu and Kenta, going their separate ways from the others while Takato stayed behind a little longer to make sure no one followed them back to the park. As they made their way through the chaos on the streets, she finally took in the shock of what had happened. Aside from some property damage, it seemed next to no one was seriously injured. It was nothing short of a miracle. But that just reminded her of what she would have to do - tell her parents. She wasn't even sure she had a right to tell them about it since she didn't have a digimon partner. She probably should have been the last person involved in any of this. If anything, she wasn't sure her family would be concerned for her if she went off to the Digital World or continued helping the others. She wasn't exactly close with her step mother and her father didn't approve of the fact that she hadn't tried to like her.

"I guess it's about time we told our folks," Kenta frowned, massaging his arm like he was trying to hide his guilt over something. Kazu groaned, "Come on dude, not you too."

"I'm just saying," Kenta threw up his hands defensively, "We both saw the same thing with those last couple of Deva! This is dangerous and serious! People almost died! Next time, it could be one of us. Henry's dad is right. And so is Takato, apparently."

That's right. Kazu and Kenta didn't know what Rika had told her. But she wasn't sure she believed it herself. Takato had said he was trying to be more open and honest, although he was keeping some things to himself. And that anger he'd shown briefly was…different from how he normally acted. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Kazu nudged her, "Come on! Juri, back me up here!"

Juri shook her head, "Sorry, I was thinking about something Rika said."

"I wouldn't let anything she says get to you. I don't," Kazu countered until Kenta pointed out, "That's because you basically annoy her any time you talk. If I were you, I'd just keep my mouth shut."

"Whatever," Kazu folded his arms behind his back. Juri's gaze shifted downward, "It's just…Rika said she found a book by the author of those books. The original book. She said that the story it was told was different from the original story. And that one thing was clear: we can't trust The Digimon Tamer. I mean, Takato."

Both boys were quiet after what she said and didn't even seem alarmed by it. That worried her even more. Until Kazu misunderstood her meaning, "See! Even she agrees! We shouldn't tell our folks! If she doesn't trust Takato, she's not going to listen. Which means she won't! And I'm not either! How about you Juri?"

She hesitated long enough for Kenta to point out, "I still say we should. It's only the right thing to do."

The right thing. Why did the right thing have to be so hard?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kids are off to tell their families! Probably. Poorly kept secrets appear to be a theme here! How will their parents react? How will the Matsudas take the news about Takato? And what of the Digidestined? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in two weeks on July 5th at 5 PM CDT! If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section. And don't forget to follow the story to keep up with the latest updates and favorite to show support! I've also recently set up a tumblr where we can meet and talk at the-digimon-tamer. That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> Juri sat quietly at the dinner table, fiddling with her rice and contemplating if she should actually tell her parents. Her stepmom was too busy feeding her baby step-brother to notice she wasn't eating. Her dad on the other hand did notice and asked, "Eat up Juri. You need to eat."
> 
> "I'm not feeling very hungry," she replied, "May I be excused?"
> 
> "Well at least eat your rice," her stepmom pointed at the half eaten bowl of rice, "It's not healthy for a girl your age to eat so little. Are the other girls making fun of your weight?"
> 
> Juri wasn't sure what to say to that, but she did know she hadn't felt ever felt self conscious about her appearance until now, "Do I look fat?"
> 
> "No, of course not," she replied quickly, assuring her that her step mom thought she was fat. That didn't help her at all. Juri wanted out of this conversation now and pushed her plate away, "I think I'm done eating now."


	19. The King and the Droid

Juri sat quietly at the dinner table, fiddling with her rice and contemplating if she should actually tell her parents. Her stepmom was too busy feeding her baby step-brother to notice she wasn't eating. Her dad on the other hand did notice and asked, "Eat up Juri. You need to eat."

"I'm not feeling very hungry," she replied, "May I be excused?"

"Well at least eat your rice," her stepmom pointed at the half eaten bowl of rice, "It's not healthy for a girl your age to eat so little. Are the other girls making fun of your weight?"

Juri wasn't sure what to say to that, but she did know she hadn't felt ever felt self conscious about her appearance until now, "Do I look fat?"

"No, of course not," she replied quickly, assuring her that her step mom thought she was fat. That didn't help her at all. Juri wanted out of this conversation now and pushed her plate away, "I think I'm done eating now."

"Not until you eat young lady," her father insisted, sliding her plate of food her way. She sighed and shoved a spoonful of rice into her mouth, before pushing it away again and getting up to leave, "Thank you for dinner."

She hurried upstairs to her room, ignoring her father calling after her until she was upstairs. Once she was in her room, she threw herself face first into the bed and buried her face into her pillow. Part of her felt guilty for not telling them, but somewhere in the back of her mind was the knowledge that it didn't matter. All it would do is make them worry and she wasn't worth worrying over. Life...had a way of giving her the short end of the stick.

* * *

Zhenyu Li looked at Henry from across the desk in his office, trying to process everything that had happened earlier that day. It all seemed like a terrible dream, knowing that his work as a college student was now affecting his family. As he waited for the computer to finish loading the appropriate programs, he attached some custom made scanning equipment he built himself and reflected on everything he'd learned.

His son came back from his camping trip, only to have to run off again because he was...friends with a digimon. And they were fighting to save the world. He and his son always had the easiest time talking to each other but, for the first time in his life, he felt like his own son was a total stranger to him. And Xiaochun. She was involved in all of this too. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be impressed or amazed that the little girl was actually able to keep a secret with how talkative she was.

After a while, he broke the silence between them, "Henry...no, Jiangliang. If I hadn't stumbled onto you two, would you have ever told me?"

His sone was quiet, and he couldn't blame him. Then he answered, "I didn't want you guys involved. I saw what happened to Terriermon during his first fight. He almost died. I didn't want him to fight. But if we didn't...it would just mean someone else would get hurt. So...I figured it'd be best to just keep you guys out of it."

"But you told Xiaochun," he pointed out calmly, trying to avoid losing his temper. His son nodded, guiltily admitting, "We needed someone energetic enough to keep up with Calumon. And I didn't want her to freak out if she saw Calumon start walking and talking. That digimon's too hyper to keep quiet for too long. So I told her. Believe me, I wasn't too keen on it."

From the way the little Calumon was prodding everything in the room with his fingers, he wasn't surprised. Which brought up another issue: the rest of the family. He turned to Henry, "When are you going to tell the others?"

"Tomorrow," he answered sheepishly, "It's been a long day and all I want is to eat dinner and go to bed."

That was fair. It had been a busy day for the kids. Once the computer finished loading, he asked to borrow his son's 'digivice' and set it on the scanner. Right away, the scanner identified its electromagnetic spectrum as off - more specifically, it was not resonating as if it were any known material in the world. Whatever it was made of, it wasn't from this world. Then another window opened, perhaps prompted by the scan of the device, that began displaying code. Computer code. His eyes widened in surprise as he read through it, Henry and Xiaochun peering over curiously, "What is it, dad?"

"Just some strange code. It doesn't look like anything malicious. Scanning the device probably triggered a launcher to read the code," he rattled off without thinking, realizing his son was probably just barely following him and his daughter was completely lost. Now even the digimon were curious, reaching their hand into the scanner and watching with bemusement as their hands became ghost like. Calumon laughed, "It tickles."

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," he warned, "We have no idea what'll happen. It won't affect us as humans but digital beings...anything could happen."

The digimon leapt away like they'd touched something hot, and Xiaochun giggled. He continued reading through the code when he noticed something. It was subtle at first, something so innocuous that one could glance over it without noticing. But once he doubled checked, he was sure he recognized the code. It was just a signature left by whoever programmed it. Except he recognized the signature: it belonged to an old friend of his and a colleague on the college project: Shibumi. But he hadn't heard from him since the project shut down. He'd assumed the man had dropped out of college in grief. To think his signature would be on this. Was he involved? His mind raced with the possibilities when he heard his wife call for dinner. It would have to wait. He shut the program down and returned the digivice to his son.

Once dinner concluded, Jianling and Xiaochun excused themselves to her room. He assumed it was for digimon related reasons. He was about to barge in when there was a knock at the door. He needed time to consider how he was going to approach his two kids about their digital friends, as well as the code from his old colleague. He decided it would be better to deal with the door until he was sure he wasn't going to start screaming at them. Oh how wrong he was.

On the other side was another familiar face - one he hadn't seen in a long time although he wished it would've stayed that way. Yamaki stared back at him with his sunglasses that obscured his face and that damned black suit of his. He should've known. If his kids were involved in his college project, then so was he. Well he would be damned if Yamaki got anywhere near his kids. He frowned, "Hey, Zhenyu. Long time, no see. How have you been?"

"What do you want?" he replied with just a mark of bitterness. Yamaki seemed unperturbed, "Is that a way to greet an old friend?"

"You took my college project, turned it into a government defense program, then shut it down before we could see what would become of it," Zhenyu replied, barely hiding any of the harbored resentment about that. Yamaki smiled for the first time he had ever known the man. It was unsettling to see, "That's exactly why I'm here. May I come in?"

"No, you can't," Zhenyu opened the door just enough to slip out of the apartment, and closed the door behind him. He wanted to be sure this asshole had to go through him before getting anywhere near the door, "What do you want?"

"I'm sure you've already pieced together what's happened based on the news," Yamaki began softly, trying to remain calm despite what he was about to say, "There's going to be a press conference about it tomorrow. The whole situation is getting out of hand and our top expert was seriously injured working on a project to contain this mess. So we need to get to the next best thing - the makers of this little project."

"You didn't want us involved any more. Go clean it up yourself," Zhenyu answered with a scowl, about to go inside. Before he could even try to open the door, Yamaki blocked the door, "Don't forget what happened. The number of dead children. It's getting out of hand. We're containing this as best as we can but we can't do it on our own any more. And when that happens..."

He paused, obviously reading Zhenyu's reactions through those shades of his. Then he added, "I've heard you've gotten married since then and had kids. You don't want what happened in the past to happen again, do you? A lot of parents buried their kids that day."

Yamaki was right. Something Zhenyu hated to admit. Jianliang and Xiaochun could die if they got any more involved in this. And no parent ever wanted to bury their child into the ground. He hadn't forgotten from the first time it happened. But something about that bothered him. He remembered it happening clear as day. So why were the appearance of digimon surprising to him now? Especially when it only happened a year ago? Thinking on it gave him a headache that was piercing so he massaged his temple and tried to focus on the matter at hand, "What do you want from me?"

"If you're interested, then come to the metropolitan government building tomorrow. We're going to have the first meeting," Yamaki replied, "You'll be doing the right thing if you come."

He let go and Zhenyu retreated back inside, making sure to slam the door extra loud. He massaged his temple as he tried to sort the memories out in his head. They were crystal clear - digimon attacking...hundreds of children dead...the clean up in the aftermath...the world appearing in the sky...they were all there! So why did thinking about it feel like someone was driving an axe through his skull? And why did he remember it being just another normal work day?

* * *

It was hard to tell how long Juri lay face down in her bed, wishing she'd had the guts to tell her parents. But she couldn't - she was sure they wouldn't care anyway. She stirred only when she heard a soft rumble outside. It sounded like thunder, and she hurried to her bed side window to see for herself what it was. It had been clear skies earlier that evening but it was foggy now, the stars hidden behind a blanket of clouds.

When had it gotten foggy? She peered as hard as she could into it but saw nothing. Wait, there was something. Something big and it was moving fast. That was when it dawned on her that fog appeared whenever digimon were crossing over to their world. There was a digimon out there. She panicked for a moment as she tried to figure out what to do. She would need to get Takato, Rika, or Henry. But how was she supposed to get any of them without going out there herself? She couldn't. But she couldn't do nothing either. She panicked, mind racing as she thought about what she should do. What she had to do.

She hurried back down stairs, taking care not to be noticed by either her dad or step mom before going outside into the fog. It was surreal to feel unsafe in her own neighborhood but she had no choice here. She needed to be out here if she was going to alert the others. She peeked out past the gate to make sure it was safe before hurrying on. Once she was sure there was nothing else out, she opened the gate and took her first step outside.

RAARRRRGGGHHH!

She froze at the sound of the roar, fear overriding her ability to move. That sound came from just ahead of her. But that was the way to the others. Maybe she could find another way around?

"GATLING ATTACK!"

"FIST OF THE BEAST KING!"

There was a flash of light ahead, followed by a fireball coming her way. Juri knew she had to get out of the way, but her legs were still frozen in fear. This was it. This was what destiny had planned for her. She was going to die here.

"LOOK OUT!"

A large figure appeared just in front of her and deflected the light with the broad side of a sword. For that brief moment, the light illuminated her rescuer just long enough for Juri to get a good look at him: a giant lion wearing only black pants. He must've been twice as tall as her dad, and he certainly scared her as much as him. The lion looked over his shoulder at her, and she let out a small squeak as he fixed his gaze on her. Then he looked ahead back into the fog, "Enough, Andromon! You almost hurt an innocent!"

Andromon. At least she had a name to call it now. The fog was starting to thin a little enough for her to see ahead at who he spoke to. Its shape was vaguely humanoid, beneath layers of metal and wires. Altogether, it resembled a robot with a laser cannon for an arm. The android grunted, "Observation: You interfered!"

"You attacked!"

Its eyes started to glow a harsh red, "Counter: I need to find the digimon tamer. Stop interfering with my search, Leomon."

The digimon tamer. Juri looked from the android to the lion, wondering if they meant Takato, Henry, or Rika. But why would they be looking for them? They weren't Devas, were they? She noticed the lion sigh, "Andromon, even you have to understand the dangers of jumping from world to world. We're not the Sovereigns. We're not even Devas. I want to save our world as much as you do, but this is too dangerous!"

They weren't devas. But what were sovereigns? Was that important? In fact, now that she thought about it, these digimon were different. They were actually stopping to talk to each other instead of just attacking everything in sight. Maybe these guys weren't dangerous. At least, she thought so until the android made a sound like grinding metal which she assumed was meant to be a snarl, "Query: If it was so dangerous, then why did you follow me? Conclusion: you're either a hypocrite or a coward who can't do what needs to be done."

The android's cannon clicked and whirred, until a long metal blade emerged from the deep within. It raised the blade and declared, "Suggestion: Stand aside."

"Ancient technology is dangerous if used improperly! You need to return it before we cause more damage!" Leomon retorted, looking back over his shoulder at Juri, "You might want to leave, kid. It's going to get dangerous."

"Um...are you a good digimon?" Juri asked, finally managing to get her mouth to work. Leomon roared his reply, "Go! Now!"

Juri was still frozen in place, too scared to run away properly. This also gave her a great view of a fight as she watched the lion and the android leapt at each other with their weapons drawn. They crossed blades several times, taking turns to strike or parry the other's attack but neither was able to deal a decisive blow. The two were clearly experienced, casually trading words as easily as they traded blows, "We need to return to the Digital World before we cause any lasting damage to this one!"

"Observation: We're in the human world! Conclusion: If we can't find the digimon tamer, then we can at least help find the Catalyst!" Andromon responded bitterly. Juri gasped as she realized they were after Calumon. That couldn't be good. She turned around, intent on finding another way to any of the other's houses as the two digimon continued to duel. She reached the end of her street and turned the corner just to see the fight had followed her. Andromon was pushing Leomon back.

"Query: Don't you understand, Leomon? I have to do this for the good of all digimon!" Andromon shouted, swinging his blade and scratching the side of Leomon's face. The lion howled, stepping back and raising his sword defensively while Andromon countered, "Declaration: First blood is mine. Please don't make me continue, old friend."

Leomon held the cut on his side, wincing in pain while countering, "That's why I'm continuing! Because we're friends. Crossing over to this world may do more harm than good."

"Statement: If we find the tamer, they can fix it," Andromon replied, "Plea: I don't wish to fight but I will if I have to."

The two charged at each other again, pushing past her and continuing on. This was her chance to get past them. She turned and hurried towards Takato's house. He was the closest and he always seemed to have more ideas than the others about what was going on. She ran as fast as she could just to Andromon be thrown past her, rolling along the ground until he stabbed his sword into the ground to catch himself. He used the moment of the roll to turn himself upright and returned to a defensive posture. Juri would've been impressed if she wasn't caught in the middle of this fight with nothing more than just a deck of cards in her pocket.

Andromon readied his weapon, pressing forward towards Leomon while holding his side, "Observation: Operational capacity at 94 percent. That was a good blow. You're learning to guard your blind spots. Counter-point: You still haven't learned follow through!"

He charged forward with his weapon raised. Juri gasped, realizing the android was charging straight at her and raised her arms up in defense. The android seemed to realize his mistake and managed to stop his charge just short of her, "Insult: You coward, Leomon. Using a child as a shield!"

"Me? You're the one who charged in blindly!" Leomon protested from just behind her, "Don't you get it, Andromon? You're too rash! You charged in without thinking and almost hurt the girl."

Juri felt herself be picked up and looked over to see Leomon holding her with one arm. He set her down on the sidewalk and said, "And I thought I told you to get out of here! It's not safe, kid."

Juri nodded, trying to be thankful but really just being fully confused now. The two of them bickered like an old married couple. Andromon even grunted, "Query: Are you trying to play the hero when you're the one who stood behind her in the first place?"

"Don't read this for anything other than what it is," Leomon replied, pointing his sword at Andromon, "She was in trouble and I helped save her."

The android grunted and charged again, the two clashing blades to try and finish the other off. Maybe they weren't so different from the Devas after all. Juri tried to use this chance to run past, hoping to safely escape their brawl and get help. As soon as she rounded the corner, she bumped straight into Takato and Guilmon. Takato caught her before she fell backwards, "Sorry about tha-Juri!?"

He helped her stand up and quickly let go, stammered out, "What're you doing here?"

She answered as quickly as she could, "Getting you! Two digimon just popped up outside my house and-"

She wasn't fast enough - Leomon came flying past again and rolled along the ground, stopping just short of crashing into another wall, "A fine parry, Andromon. But this will end with the next bout."

Andromon raised his sword, "Statement: Agreed. I will end this without taking your life old friend."

Juri wasn't sure what possessed Takato to do it but he suddenly raised his voice, "Or, and this is just a thought, maybe you could try talking this out? Y'know, without the weapons and trying to kill each other? Just a thought. I mean, that's what I do when I have a disagreement with friends."

Both Leomon and Andromon stopped what they were doing and looked at him curiously, still keeping their weapons drawn and minding their distance to each other. Leomon asked first, "Who are you?"

"Takato," he replied plainly, strolling up to the two of them and placing a hand on their weapons. Then, as if in defiance of all expectations, he lowered their swords and asked, "What are you guys fighting about anyway?"

Both Leomon and Andromon examined the boy as he proceeded to guide their hands into putting their weapons away. Guilmon followed along and started sniffing them, "Friends?"

Both digimon became uneasy as Guilmon continued to sniff them as Takato went on, "I mean, it's the middle of the night and you guys are causing all this racket. It's a miracle you haven't woken up the neighborhood! I mean a midnight brawl!? I'd fancy a snack myself."

"Our affairs are none of your concern, Takato," Leomon replied coldly. He turned to Andromon, "Are you ready to return to the Digital World?"

"Negative," Andromon replied, "Mission is the same: Find The Digimon Tamer and return him to the Digital World. Priority: Absolute. Digital World in danger. Threat Level: Absolute."

"Absolute," Takato repeated mockingly, "Absolute what? Madness? Coz your not wrong. Who goes to another world just to pick a fight? Just stay in your own world. You don't waste the time. How'd you even do that?"

Leomon thumbed at Andromon as he answered, "Not that it's your business, but Andromon over there used Ancient technology to travel to this world. I tried to stop him. That technology is too dangerous to be left around...Wait, why am I telling you any of this? You probably have no idea what I'm talking about!"

"I have an idea of what you're talking about but it's probably wrong. Trouble in your world so you came here to find a solution," Takato replied nonchalantly, turning to Juri, "That sound about right to you Juri?"

She was still trying to process what she was seeing. Takato's luck appeared to be changing since he successfully convinced two more digimon to stop fighting. Granted these two digimon were different from the others, it didn't change the fact that this hadn't happened before. Eventually, she managed to nod and Takato looked back at them, "So Leomon, did I get all of tha…hang on a minute. Weren't you dead? Like…didn't you die? Or am I remembering that wrong? Puppetmon killed you."

Leomon frowned, crossing his arms and turning to Andromon, "That was a different Leomon. The real Leomon. Can't say the same for him. He's _the_ Andromon - The android created by the Ancients to protect their technologies and servant to The Digimon Tamer himself."

"Correction: I do not serve The Digimon Tamer. I serve the Agents, of which The Digimon Tamer is the sole remaining member," Andromon started monotonously. Leomon sighed, "So you do serve the Digimon Tamer."

Andromon grunted disapprovingly and looked back at them. It was actually kind of funny in a disgusting sort of way. The digimon turned on Leomon, "Declaration: I will continue my mission now. Stand aside."

The two looked ready to get their weapons out again. Juri gasped and Guilmon started growling at them; a fight was about to start with Takato in the middle of it. But instead, Takato called out to get their attention, "You're looking for a digimon tamer, right? What if you already found one?"

"Clarify one," Andromon demanded. Takato clapped his hands together excitedly, "Well, we've got three already and another two who are definitely looking for a partner! I've already got Guilmon, Rika has Renamon and Henry has Terriermon so-"

"Query," Andromon interrupted, "Are they _the_ digimon tamer?"

"Yes," Takato answered with a pointed finger. Andromon gave no reply. In fact, his silence suggested he had no idea how to answer the question. He became perfectly still. It was like he'd been turned off. Juri took a step forward, waiting for a response. When nothing happened, she stepped closer and poked him in the side, "Is he okay?"

"He's processing," Leomon frowned quietly, "Whenever he's presented with information that's…not wrong or…how do I phrase this? He needs a moment to make sense of a confusing answer."

Juri had no idea what that was supposed to mean. She looked at Takato who answered, "Think of it like this: what's the true color of the sky?"

"Blue," Juri answered quickly until Takato answered, "Then why's the sky red when the sun sets?"

She blinked. He was right. The sky was red when the sun set. And kinda purplish too. He snapped his fingers and answered, "What just happened to you is happening to Andromon but in a more…complex way. Just give him a minute."

Juri looked at Andromon who still hadn't moved and felt sorry for the guy. What exactly was going through his head? She thought about his question and Takato's response. He asked if they were the digimon tamer, and Takato replied yes. It sounded like that thing Renamon talked about. So did Andromon mean _a_ digimon tamer or _the_ digimon tamer? She looked back at Takato who had finally grown impatient and snapped his fingers in front of Andromon to get his attention, "Hey, you okay?"

"Processing," Andromon replied. Takato turned back to Leomon, "How did you get here again?"

"Ancient technology in Andromon," Leomon pointed at the android's arm and lifted it for them to see. He opened a panel and Juri saw a myriad of wires, cables, flashing lights, and other assorted electronics she'd never seen before. But that wasn't the weird part. It was the fact that the inside seemed to go on forever despite the size of Andromon's arm. It was…bigger on the inside. It didn't help that Leomon managed to fit his whole hand inside the panel and pull out something that resembled the broken old digivice Takato had. He explained, "It took him a long time but Andromon was able to retrofit himself to act as a gate - giving himself the power to go back and forth between worlds. The problem is…we weren't sure if it was going to work or if it would blow up the Digital World when he used it."

A look of joy crossed Takato face, and he beamed up at Andromon and Leomon, "This is it. We can use this and go to the Digital World!"

His excitement quickly turned to panic as he pushed the digivice back into the panel and closed it shut, "That is very not good! We need to get off the streets as quick as possible."

"What's wrong?" Leomon looked at the boy frantically starting to push him and Andromon forward. Takato spoke quickly, "You are two digimon standing out in the open in the Real World. We need to go before those crazy government shooty guys show up!"

Leomon seemed to finally understand and turned to help move Andromon. They just barely managed to make it into a nearby alley when several white vans pulled up in the dark. Men wearing hazmat suits jumped out, obscured by the bright flashlights they equipped on their rifles. Juri immediately threw her hands up while Takato jumped in front of them all, "Wait!"

It was too late. Guilmon was already growling, ready to go on the attack and Leomon readied his swords. One of the men called out, "Minimize collateral damage. Single fire only! Don't hit the kids! Take 'em down!"

"You won't lay a hand on these children!" Leomon roared, pushing both Juri and Takato behind him. He drew his sword and readied it, "I'll die before I let any harm come to them!"

"Activating Emergency Jump!" Andromon finally spoke. Suddenly, she was blinded by a bright flash of light and several loud bangs. Then she felt the sensation of falling, followed by something hard hitting her. She'd been shot. She knew it! She was dead. This was it. This was how she died! Not like this! Not like this! She didn't want to die! Not yet!

"Juri!"

She opened her eyes as soon as she felt someone shaking her from the shoulders. It was Takato, with a relieved look on his face, "It's alright. Everything's fine. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" she replied, taking a moment to compose herself. She was lying on the ground now, and it was pitch black out. No, there was sun light. A little bit of sun, not a lot. But enough that she could start to make things out, "What happened?"

Takato took a look around, "I think Andromon tried to open a gate to the Digital World to get us out of danger. Instead, we landed at the park where I hide Guilmon."

"I…huh," Juri looked off to the horizon, at the rising sun, "But, why's the sun coming up? It was almost midnight!"

"I think it also threw us several hours into the future. That's kinda dangerous. Let's not do that again," Takato answered uncertainly, helping her stand up. She dusted herself off and examined her surroundings to be sure. They were definitely in the park. As far as she knew, they were thrown into tomorrow morning. Then she noticed Andromon and Leomon beside them. Andromon was busy tinkering with the open panel on his arm and Leomon was helping him, "Maybe if you try rerouting power?"

"Power is not the issue," Andromon responded, "Key components are damaged, requiring either repair or replacement. Scan indicates this world's technology is not on par with necessary tech. Parts cannot be acquired in this world. We are stuck in this world."

Leomon grunted at the news, folding his arms and turning to Takato, "It would seem that we are in your care then. Takato, correct? You said Guilmon is your partner. Are you a digidestined?"

"Not even close," Takato answered quickly, going over to have a look at Andromon's panel, "Repair isn't going to be easy. We'll need a place for you to lie low. There is the shed but…never mind, bad idea. I really should clean that thing out one day."

"Yeah you should," Juri agreed, looking up at Leomon thankfully. He didn't know them but he'd jumped in the way to protect her so many times. She was a little embarrassed by it too. Leomon looked at the pacing Takato, "Who were those men? The ones who shot at us. Why would they do that?"

"No idea, but they keep popping up," Takato answered quickly, still examining Andromon's arm carefully. Eventually, he sighed and closed the panel, "Yeah, there's nothing we can do about that."

Andromon examined Takato carefully, "Query: Who are you?"

Takato looked up at the large digimon silently before answering, "You know who I am. I'm Takato. I said that already."

Andromon stared back for the longest time before finally answering, "Scans do not sugg-"

"Guys!" Henry called out from behind them. They all looked over their shoulders to see Henry hurrying along with Terriermon and Rika just behind him. Henry called out, "We've been looking for you guys all night! What happened?"

"That's…kind of a long story," Takato replied sheepishly, looking back at Andromon and Leomon as if hoping they would offer some kind of assistance. Instead, they stared down at him silently as if they were expecting more from him. Rika sighed, "Well you better start talking because we want to know what happened. We got to you guys just as those crazy people with the guns showed up. Then there was this flash of light and you were gone. We spent all night trying to avoid those guys while finding you. So what happened?"

Juri raised her hand to offer up an answer, "Leomon and Andromon showed up outside my house, fighting each other. Takato managed to get them to stop."

"Surprise, surprise. It worked for once," Rika spat out in shock, looking from Takato to the two giant digimon in disbelief. Juri wasn't sure how else to explain it to them, because she was still having a hard time believing that Takato had finally managed to get some digimon to stop fighting and work together. Leomon put a hand to his chest and explained, "I am Leomon, and this is Andromon. We're not here looking for a fight, just to save our world."

Rika placed a hand on her hips, "You and every other digimon since the Devas started showing up. So why should we believe you?"

Andromon beeped out in his monotone, "Response: Because if we wanted to fight, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Observation: she's not smart."

"I think she's one of the smartest people here. At the very least, she's observant," Takato replied matter of factly, before crossing his arms, "Now where to hide you guys? The shed's out because you're just too big for it. Maybe the access tunnel?"

"It is big enough," Henry thought until Terriermon laughed, "So they're just supposed to hide out in the tunnel all day?"

"Negative. Mission Critical: Locate _the_ digimon tamer," Andromon said again, turning to walk away until Takato ran in front of him, "I'm right _here_!"

Andromon scanned the boy carefully, seemingly disbelieving of Takato's claim, "Scan complete. Data inconclusive. Further evidence required."

"Then how about this?" Takato held up his old digivice, the one he claimed once broken. Andromon looked at it for a long time before answering, "Scan complete. Identity verified. Greeting: Digimon Tamer, it is good to see you again."

Then the oddest thing happened. The mechanical man bowed, as did Leomon, "It's an honor to meet you."

"Hey, what's happening?" Terriermon asked, looking to the others for some kind of explanation. Unfortunately, none of them had one. Takato looked back at them, "I already said, didn't I? My name is The Digimon Tamer. But Takato works just fine by me."

"So...should we be bowing too?" Henry asked. Rika maintained her adversity, "I'm not bowing."

Renamon's answer was more conflicted, "I feel like I should out of respect…but every bit of data in my body wants to be sick at the idea."

Takato shrugged, "I'm right here y'know. Not bowing is fine though, I don't particularly care for it. Do you mind standing up? It's starting to get embarrassing."

Andromon straightened out his posture, "Query: if you are the Digimon Tamer, why didn't you say so when I first said I was looking for you?"

"That was the old me. New face, new rules, new likes and dislikes," Takato answered matter of factly, "That and I wasn't sure I could trust you at the time. Not until I saw the Ancient tech that was built into you. If you had ancient tech, that had to mean I could trust you. Otherwise, you might've been one of the digimon trying to kill me. And that'd be a whole 'nother problem I don't want to deal with right now."

"Digimon are trying to kill you?" Henry asked. Renamon nodded, "The Digimon Tamer is said to have made many enemies. There are plenty who would like to hang his head over their mantle."

Everyone suddenly felt uneasy standing next to Takato like this. Andromon seemed satisfied by his answer, and Takato looked at the rest of them with a big innocent smile. Juri thought back to what Rika had said - not to trust him. He said he was trying to not keep so many secrets and he'd kept the part about digimon trying to kill him secret. Although, it was the more like he'd just neglected to mention it instead of lied. But didn't that count as a lie? And between that, finding out he wasn't the _real_ Takato, and learning that the names she'd been calling her teacher was wrong, she began to wonder just how much of the world she'd come to live in was not as it seemed. Then a thought occurred to her, "Wait, we've been out all night!"

"Yeah we have. Our parents are going to kill us!" Henry picked up Terriermon and turned to leave, "We'd better get going before we end up in trouble."

"Speaking of parents, have you guys told them yet?" Takato asked, looking specifically at Rika when he asked that. She frowned, "No. And stop looking at me. It's freaking me out."

"That's good," Takato said, crossing his arms seriously, "Because, full disclosure, I'm not going to beat around the bush with Kari any more. I'm just going to flat out tell her and hope the revelation of multiple converging realities doesn't overwhelm her brain. Worse case scenario: her brain permanently rejects the idea in self-defense."

"Wait, is that what happens?" Terriermon gasped, his jaw hanging open. Takato shrugged, "Well yeah. Anything a brain can't process, it either correlates with something it can process or ignores it. She's had experience with digimon before so this shouldn't be weird to her."

"But why now?" Rika asked, watching Takato as he began pacing, "You had plenty of time to tell her before. And you never did. So why now?"

Takato's gaze looked downward, "I was trying to open her eyes slowly. But the risk is getting too great. Between the Devas and everything else going on, someone needs to stay on this side and protect the Real World because if we fail...one of the few things I can remember from my old life is they're the back up plan. They're the ones who'll save the day when I'm not around. And they haven't been doing that. It's about time we found out why. I hope you don't mind, but we're going to have a team meeting at your place tomorrow."

"Wait, what!?" Rika blurted out in shock. Takato raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Why do you think? Your mom is a part of this too. If I'm going to tell Kari, I might as well tell her too."

"This is going to end well," Rika smiled devilishly. Juri had a worried feeling in the pit of her stomach, wondering what Rika knew that she wasn't sharing.

* * *

Yamaki sat in his car, listening to the report from the QRF. Those kids were there again. Worse, they'd disappeared in a flash of light with the digimon as they were called. There were issues in place that needed resolution. Thankfully, most of the Monster Makers seemed willing to come back and help. All of them except for Zhenyu. Finding them was the easy part - trace their lives through the system to their current addresses. It was convincing them that was the hard part. And it wasn't hard to press the right buttons considering some of them had kids of their own.

Once he finally found the will to get his car started, his phone rang. He was annoyed at the timing - the last 24 hours just wouldn't stop rolling with the punches. He let his car stay in park as he answered, "Yamaki."

"Boss, it's Izumi. He's awake," came the voice of the agent on the other side. If Yamaki believed in hope, he felt a small glimmer of it in his heart somewhere, "I'm on my way. Keep him conscious. I want to talk to him as soon as I get there."

"Yes sir," the agent replied, hanging up. Maybe things were going to work out after all. Maybe things were starting to look up. The idea brought a small smile to his face. He knew better than to do that.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What will Koushiro say now that he's awake? Is Henry's dad going to join Yamaki? What will the others say when they see Leomon and Andromon? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name which is due out next Friday July 12th at 5 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys thought in the reviews section. And if you loved it, don't forget to follow the story to keep up with updates and favorite to show support! And don't forget to stop by the tumblr at the-digimon-tamer for updates, announcements, or just to chat. That's all for now, let's have a look at a preview for chapter 20! That's all for now so let's have a look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> Kari set her stuff down on her desk and turned to face the class. It wasn't hard to miss the dazed looks on some of her students: Juri Katou, Hirokazu Shiota, Kenta Kitagawa, and Takato Matsuda. Takato especially. Like they'd been up all night even though they'd spent all weekend camping. She sighed and picked up her lesson plan to start the day's lesson. She would handle her students after class. But that didn't stop her from fixating on Takato, although she tried her best not to.
> 
> The idea that her brother had been just a few feet in front of her after all this time weighed heavy on her. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him. Not the least of which was why he never said anything. Then she remembered how the last time they'd met, he said she wouldn't recognize him. How she shouldn't wait for a brother who isn't coming back to return. But that would have to wait until after she confirmed it.
> 
> After what felt like the longest day, she dismissed her class but made a point of announcing, "Except for you Takato. We need to have a talk."
> 
> There were a lot of oohs from the rest of the class - kids being kids when someone got into trouble. It didn't help that he remarked, "That's okay! I wanted to talk to you too!"


	20. New Meets Old

 

It was around eight in the morning when, Yamaki walked into Izumi's hospital room. The lead scientist was sitting upright in his bed, chowing down on a tray of hot food: steamed rice with spam, a bowl of miso, some eggs, and a cup of fruit. It looked like he woke up just in time to get an order in the breakfast menu, and he could only imagine how hungry the man must be after being out for so long. The bewildered agent assigned to guard him was on the far end of the room, trying to ignore the munching noises of the ravenous Izumi as shoveled the food into his mouth. In fact, the man hadn't even noticed that he was in the room. For a brief moment, Yamaki wondered if he was even aware that he was missing a leg. He knocked on the door to get the man's attention before closing it.

"Izumi, it's good to see you're awake. We need to talk," Yamaki greeted, taking care not to rush the issue.

"Did you close the gate opened by the Juggernaut?" Izumi asked first. Gate? What gate? He probably meant the juggernaut. At least he wasn't going to dance around the issue. Yamaki ran a hand through his hair, "That's what I'm here to talk about. The Juggernaut program worked only briefly. But now, there are more of these wild ones crossing over into our world. And they're larger and more aggressive than ever. We don't have the means to contain this. At this point, it's the world's worst kept secret. What the hell happened?"

Izumi sighed, putting down his spoon and fork in a disgruntled fashion. He was obviously famished, having gotten by off IVs for the entire time he was unconscious. The scientist then removed his blanket to show the sorry remains of his leg. He appeared smaller without his leg, but seemed so much more dangerous for it. Only Izumi could've pulled off a threatening look from a missing leg.

The surgeons did a good job cleaning up the amputation, but he was obviously agitated about it and didn't hesitate to let Yamaki know, "THIS happened. I haven't seen my wife or daughter since you dragged me into this...program...this government bullshit. Months of my life dedicated to something I wanted no part of, and now my leg is gone! I almost died! You want to know what happened? You tried to control something you couldn't and you dragged me into it!"

Yamaki maintained his composure, waiting for Izumi to finish venting before saying anything. It seemed the computer scientist had a back bone after all. Once he calmed down, Izumi spoke more calmly, "The technology I used to build the juggernaut wasn't from this world. It was from theirs. The Digital World. Technology from their side. But it's written in a language that I barely understand with a level of technology I've only scrapped the surface of. Do you know how much more advanced they are than us? We needed a whole building and the city's power grid to do something they needed a device the size of a pocket watch to accomplish."

Izumi paused and Yamaki waited for him to catch his breath, well aware of Izumi's love of rambling, "The juggernaut...it doesn't just remove digimon from our world. It opens a gate into the Digital World and creates a special kind of electromagnetic field. It was the only way I could guarantee that it would only affect digimon and not humans. Once the digimon get close enough to the gate..."

Izumi paused, "You know what happens. But there's a catch to this method - gates work both ways. And when...whatever digimon came through, it left that gate wide open. So whatever problems you're having are because that gate is wide open and letting any of the big ones through!"

Yamaki had his explanation now. Then Izumi went on, "But the method I used to open that gate was messy. I got the idea from someone else a long time ago. They brute forced open a gate between worlds, too. But that method tore a hole in reality and destabilized the worlds around us. It was only by a miracle that we didn't all die, then and there."

"What are you saying?" Yamaki, alarmed by whatever Izumi was trying to say. Izumi looked up grimly, his voice shaking as he spoke the next line, "I'm saying that we're lucky it's only been digimon coming through and not anything else. I don't know what other worlds it might have blown open a path to, but I can guarantee that it's only a matter of time before something else shows up. And you better pray we can do something about it."

The air felt heavy all of a sudden. Yamaki didn't like the implications of what he'd heard. They were having enough trouble with the wild ones. He frowned and urgently asked, "When can you return to work?"

"When?" Izumi gestured at his leg, "Are you going to get me a wheel chair and a team because I'm not going to be able to walk around any more. And you better believe I'm not coming back just like that, either. I'm pissed."

"I saved your life!" Yamaki reminded him, only to be met with, "You ruined it!"

"The world is in danger," Yamaki pointed out and Izumi spat back, "If it's a world where I can't see my wife and daughter, I don't give a fuck."

It was then that Yamaki knew what he wanted. It was a hard ask but he was walking a very fine line as it was. The minister of defense and the Prime Minister were hounding him for results. Not to mention the fact that there was supposed to be a press conference about all of it later. The cat was practically out of the bag at this point. He had to deliver. With a heavy sigh, he replied, "You can see them as soon as you're cleared to be discharged."

"Fuck that noise," Izumi said, pushing his bedside table aside and adjusting himself in bed to face the exit, "We're going now."

* * *

Kari set her stuff down on her desk and turned to face the class. It wasn't hard to miss the dazed looks on some of her students: Juri Katou, Hirokazu Shiota, Kenta Kitagawa, and Takato Matsuda. Takato especially. Like they'd been up all night even though they'd spent all weekend camping. But when she thought about the chaos that followed their return, she couldn't help but be anxious. If she'd spent all of the afternoon dealing with rampaging monsters, she'd be burn out too.

That would have to wait until later though. She sighed and picked up her lesson plan to start the day's lesson. She would handle her students after class. But that didn't stop her from fixating on Takato, although she tried her best not to.

The idea that her brother had been just a few feet in front of her after all this time weighed heavy on her. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him. Not the least of which was why he never said anything. Then she remembered how the last time they'd met, he said she wouldn't recognize him. How she shouldn't wait for a brother who isn't coming back to return. But that would have to wait until after she confirmed it.

After what felt like the longest day, she dismissed her class but made a point of announcing, "Except for you Takato. We need to have a talk."

There were a lot of oohs from the rest of the class - kids being kids when someone got into trouble. It didn't help that he remarked, "That's okay! I wanted to talk to you too!"

There might just be trouble in this case. Any time her brother showed up, it was because the world was in danger. And after seeing all these digimon running around on the news, the fact that she hadn't been to the Digital World in years or seen Gatomon in some time. And if he wasn't her brother, then that just meant he was about to announce some crazy plan of his to cause trouble.

She waited by her desk as Takato came up to her, holding his backpack in both hands and looking so dazed that he was probably going to to fall asleep standing up. At least until he was up in front of her. Then he suddenly appeared alert and awake. He appeared to swallow a lump in his throat and asked, "So what's up, Miss Kamiya?"

She wasn't sure what to say now. The possibility remained that he wasn't The Digimon Tamer. How would she phrase it and not sound crazy? No, the whole thing was crazy. She sighed, "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

He paused, "Actually yes, there was something I wanted to tell you. I was hoping I wouldn't have to beat around the bush too much but I'm running out of time so I needed to-"

That was enough for her, "Tamer?"

He paused, then the smallest of smiles drew itself on his face, "Oh, good. This saves me a couple of steps. When did you figure this out?"

It really was him. The Digimon Tamer was here. She often wondered what she was going to say to him when they met again. But nothing she could think of felt right. But any emotion would've been robbed by the fact that there were other things they had to worry about. She closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath, "I started to figure it out after that thing with the snake in the subway. You've been gone a long time and there's a lot to talk about."

She paused for a moment before adding, "For starters, why didn't you tell me?"

"I spent the first few months in this body in a daze. I didn't really realize what was going on until I was already here. Besides, would you have believed me?" Takato looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Not to mention my memory's are fuzzy after reformatting. I remember a talking cat, clothes, a stage...and...a nice lady?"

She thought about it and it came back to her. The night of her college graduation, Matt had given her tickets to a return concert his band was doing. After the concert, they ran into a boy in ill fitting clothes who was rambling about nonsense. It was hard to forget, especially since he passed out the moment after Gatomon opened her mouth. The memory brought a smile to her face, reminding her of better times, "I think I remember that. It was after my college graduation. Matt played a song at his concert for me. Afterwards, some kid appeared back stage. He was really loopy and out of it. He passed out after Gatomon talked to him."

"That was you?" he asked before bursting into a laugh, "I see you did alright. Graduated from university, became a teacher like you wanted."

She returned the smile, realizing that they'd run into each other quite a while before now. But this wasn't the time for memories. There were things to do, "The others will want to see you. There are big problems: the digimon-"

He interrupted her, "I know. I'm working on it. Well...we."

"We?" she asked softly, alarmed by his choice of words but recalling that there were others kids involved. Two from this school and another girl she didn't recognize.

He still continued to smile that stupid goofy smile of his. Even after all this time, he still had that smile and the knowing look in his eye. Then she thought about his friends: Juri, Kazu, and Kenta. They all looked exhausted today. Even more interesting, she noticed them standing just outside the classroom through the hallway window. Of course they were there. She looked back at Takato, "Did you drag them into this?

"No," he shook his head calmly, "Well, not intentionally. I didn't pick them and I have no idea where their digivices came from. Whoever is doing this, it wasn't me. For most of them. For the rest of them, it was because I can't keep my mouth shut. Although, in my defense, this new mouth apparently can't keep a secret. Which makes it a miracle I didn't tell you sooner."

She stared at him in disbelief, wondering how much of what he said to believe.

"So what's going on?" she asked, wondering just how much he actually knew. He shrugged, "The same thing that's always happening: reality is compromised, worlds that shouldn't be touching each other are, and I'm stuck trying to fix it all. The big difference is I have an arm tied behind my back m because my head is still kinda fuzzy all the time and my old digivice broke and I can't figure out how to use the new one. It makes things more interesting, though. Check this out!"

He fiddled through his coat pockets and produced the oddest thing. A new digivice. One that made no sense to her - it looked kind of like her modified digivice only more centered. Then he began excitedly explaining, "They're real marvels if I'm being honest. They have a lot of the same features: scan, digivolution, possibly open gates to other worlds - still can't figure out how - OH! And these have card readers in them! And the cards modify digimon! It's really cool. It's kinda...I don't know, not stylish like the old one. You can't beat a classic. I'd modify this one if I could figure how it works but it's like someone made a banana but had only ever heard of a banana. So when they tried to make it yellow with a hard skin, and a flavor not everyone likes - they made a lemon. And that metaphor doesn't really work. Forget the banana and the lemon."

She found herself smiling at everything he said. She wanted to be upset. To be angry. To feel some kind of insult after he'd continued to keep his secrets. Then he put it away, "Never mind me, though. I'm doing fine. Kind of...where are the others? I've been trying to track them all down but this world has made it too...difficult to concentrate."

"We're meeting up later at Mimi's," she explained, "You can come with me."

His face lit up excitedly, "That works out for me just fine because we were going to have a team meeting with her daughter. Real quick ask, if you don't mind: do they go by any weird names right now?"

"Weird names?" she repeated quietly, blinking in confusion. No, that wasn't the important part right now. She shook her head, "Wait, how do you know Mimi's daughter?"

"It's a long story and I'll explain that part later," he dismissed her, "Does any one else go by weird names?"

She blinked again. It seemed they had a lot more to talk about than she realized.

* * *

Juri, Kazu, and Kenta waited patiently as Takato finally emerged from the classroom with Miss Asaji just behind. Or Miss Kamiya. It was still a weird thing to think about - that their teacher had a completely different name that they couldn't hear until Takato pointed it out to them. It was just...too much to process. He smiled from ear to ear cheerily, "Thanks for waiting guys."

"Students," Miss Asaji...Miss Kamiya greeted them. They all nodded and Kazu leaned in to ask, "Takato, did you open your mouth again?"

"Well yeah. I need to talk. Sometimes to eat. Occasionally to breathe when I'm out of breath," he replied matter of factly, "I haven't mentioned this yet, but we're going to Rika's place tonight."

"Rika?" Kazu repeated, glancing back at her teacher, "Dude, is it alright to talk about that in front of Miss Asaji?"

It still hadn't clicked for him. Juri frowned, wondering if this is what Takato…Tamer must've felt like for months.

"I already know, Kazu," she explained, alarming Kazu, "DUDE! YOU ARE THE WORST AT KEEPING SECRETS!"

Takato waved it off casually, "Don't worry about it, Kazu. Things are mostly under control. More importantly, how would you like to meet the digidestined?"

Kazu's worried expression changed to delight. He was practically bouncing with excitement, thrilled at the chance to meet his own personal heroes. Kenta was a bit more subdued, but she could tell from the way his face had turned bright red from potential embarrassment that he was excited too. He didn't want to look stupid in front of them. Juri wanted to feel happy for them but couldn't muster the energy to feel excited. Truth be told, she was still anxious about a lot of things. Their teacher's real name, telling their parents the truth, going to the Digital World. A lot of this seemed to be happening really fast.

She snapped out of it when Henry appeared beside her, startling her into jump which he quickly apologized for, "Sorry about that. What did Takato do now?"

"Is he a part of this too?" Miss Kamiya asked, pointing at him wearily. Takato nodded, "Yeah, he is."

"Don't drag me into your mess Takato. Whatever it is you did, I had nothing to do with it," Henry threw up his hands defensively, hesitant of whatever was about to happen until Takato insisted, "It's okay, I told her."

"Oh, never mind. Then yes, I am a part of this," Henry gestured to himself and the rest of the group. Takato nodded, "That's right. Now let's go meet the others!"

"The others?" Henry repeated, slowly following Takato's logic until he finally understood, "You don't mean-"

"Dude, we are going to meet the digidestined!" Kazu punched the air excitedly, until Takato covered his mouth and shushed him, "Not so loud. We don't know who's listening and the last thing I want is for another government agent to show up with his gun!"

"Government agents? Takato, what exactly have you kids gotten yourselves into?" Miss Kamiya asked anxiously. It was hard to miss the disapproving look she got from Miss Asaji, especially when it focused in on her. Juri had to look away to avoid cracking under the gaze. Takato waved it off, "Like I said, I'll tell you guys everything once we're at Rika's."

Kazu groaned, "What? Dude, you said we were going to go meet the digi-"

He paused, realizing how loud he was being and lowered his voice, "I mean, you said we were going to meet the digidestined!"

Takato and Miss Kamiya were both looking at Kazu quizzically now and it was his turn to start feeling the pressure. Miss Kamiya pointed at herself, "Kazu…I'm a digidestined. Miss Kamiya? As in Kari Kamiya? That's been my name all year. Did you not notice or do you just not do your homework? You would've had to have read my name every day for months if you were."

Kazu stared at Miss Kamiya quietly, his face stumped by what he'd heard, "Okay, are one of you pulling my leg? Because I'm getting really sick of all this Nami Asaji crap. It was funny before but now I'm getting mad."

"What did he just call me?" Miss Kamiya asked, looking to the others with an equally confused look. Takato groaned, "It's a long story and I don't want to deal with it right now. So, let's head over to the Rika's already!"

Miss Kamiya adjusted her bag and her took the lead for them, "Just as a warning, you kids better behave yourselves while you're there. Don't treat Mimi's like you treat the school."

"I don't recall you being so behaved when you were their age," Takato commented, only to be met with a snide, "How would you know? You weren't there for most of it. Besides, you have a penchant for getting into trouble mister 'brings-a-bag-of-smoke-bombs-to-school'."

Takato promptly shut up. This wasn't the usual scolding he received from Miss Asaji…Miss Kamiya. Their dynamic became less teacher-student and more like the playful banter between two people who hadn't seen each other for a long time. It was odd how quickly they started acting that way. Still, Juri was just glad he was starting to talk to people more.

* * *

Impmon landed with thump, observing the humans as they made their out of the school. The half sized squirt wasn't with them. Which was a problem for him if he didn't find Calumon. He got as close as he could without alerting them to his presence and listened carefully.

"So where's Calumon, Henry?" Takato asked, "Still safe with your sister right?"

"They'll be fine," Henry sighed, "Assuming they don't drive my dad crazy first."

"With his sister and his dad, huh?" Impmon repeated to himself quietly. But where the hell was the sister? It had to have been the little girl with them the other day with those crazy digimon. And going by her age, she was at home. Wherever home was. He'd have to keep a closer eye on the blue haired kid until he was on his way home. Then he'd know where the little twerp was.

"And where is that exactly?" the woman with them. She was new, probably another addition to the ever growing number of humans getting themselves involved in something that wasn't their business. Henry gestured off into the distance, "Apartment complex that way."

Maybe he wouldn't have to wait that long. Impmon shook his head, wondering how these humans kept anything secret when they talked so openly like that. Then again, they were just kids. Well, that would be their problem. Not his. His problem was getting Calumon.

* * *

Rika sat at her desk, finishing up the rest of her homework and cracking a very tired yawn. Because of what happened yesterday, all she could think about was the fact that they were all going to be showing up at her house soon. Those guys with the guns also kept popping into her head but that wasn't as important as far as she was concerned. Once she finished the last problem, she quickly double checked her homework to make sure everything was correct and neatly put back into her bag for school. Then it was off to the races - those idiots would be showing up any moment now and she wanted to be ready for them.

Once she had her deck pouch ready and her digivice, she made her way out to the living room to see her mom had set the dinner table with coffee and home-made snacks. She was tempted to sneak one away and leave but didn't want to get caught by her mom. As much as her mom was consumed with work, she was also a hell of a great cook and knew how to make a lot of really delicious dishes. Just as she was tempted to grab one of the brownies, her mom called out, "Ruki? Is that you? Aw, did you want some of my homemade brownies? Help yourself honey, there's plenty more where that came from."

Rika retracted her hand in protest. She didn't want to take it as an invitation from her mom. She shook her head, "No thanks. What's with all the food anyway?"

Her mom poked her head out of the kitchen, "I have some friends coming over! You might just like to meet some of them."

"No thanks," she turned to head back to her room only to run into her grandmother blocking the hallway back to her room, "Oh no you don't, young lady."

"Grandma?" Rika gasped in surprise as her grandmother spun her around and pushed her back to the dinner table where the snacks were. Her grandmother wagged a finger, "Don't think about sneaking out again tonight, young lady! I know what you did last night! You're staying home today. You can play with your friends later."

"Crap," Rika scowled, trying to get back to her room only to have her grandmother block her at every attempt. Her grandmother added, "Go say hi to your mother's friends. Then you can go back to your room. With me. Because you're not sneaking out again."

Now that she was stuck here, she decided she may as well help herself to some of her mother's brownies. As soon as she heard the first knock on the door, she tried to make her way back to her room only to get blocked by her grandmother again, "No, you don't young lady."

Rika groaned, resigning herself to staying in the dining room. She may not be able to avoid meeting all of her mom's friends but that didn't mean she had to talk to them. And if any of them tried to talk to her, she planned on ignoring them. In a huff, she stuffed her mouth full of the brownies as her mom's first friend came in. Her mom happily offered the man a seat, "I made brownies, cookies, some cake, and anything you can think of! Help yourself! The tea will be ready any minute, Joe!"

"Thanks, Mimi," a dark haired man in glasses smiled, taking a seat in the dining room and helping himself. When he took notice of Rika, he smiled, "Hey there. I'm Joe Kido. You must be Ruki. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She nodded, remembering him from the book and the show. She recalled Joe being something of a worry wort if cautious. He didn't seem either - appearing more relaxed than anything. She stuffed another brownie in her mouth to ignore the man as he spoke, "Your mom speaks very dearly of you. I'm sorry about your dad by the way. I knew them both when we were your age. I gotta admit, it's incredibly out of character for someone like your dad to just disappear on you guys."

She still ignored him, but that didn't stop him from going on, "Not a talker, eh? That's fine. I can do the talking for both of us. That is what I do, after all. You look like you had a rough day - either that or you had a long night and haven't gotten much rest. Y'know, it's not healthy for kids your age to stay up too late. It'll make you short. And I wouldn't eat too many sweets. You'll get a cavity. Or even a root canal."

Annoyed at that remark, she swallowed the mouthful of cookie she had just bitten and asked, "What's your deal?"

He continued to smile at her, "My deal? Well, I'm a doctor and a good friend of your mom. So naturally, I notice things in the world that most others wouldn't when it comes to health. I notice you're kinda tall for your age which is good because that means you have a healthy lifestyle. But if you're not careful, that may not be the case. You don't want to peak as a kid, do you?"

She rolled her eyes, relieved when the door knocked and two more of her mom's friends came in. She recognized them immediately as Sora Ishida, her mom's fashion designer friend, and Matt Ishida, that rockstar/soldier/astronaut husband of hers. The digidestined of love and friendship. One was kind, compassionate and cared deeply for those around her. The other was abrasive and rough around the edges, but she recalled the small rampage he went on when he thought his was brother was hurt in the first book.

Sora hugged Joe, "It's good to see you Joe.'

"Likewise," he hugged her back and nodded at Matt, "How've you been, Matt? Any luck?"

Matt eyed Rika wearily and frowned, "Not in front of her daughter. I don't want to talk about it."

It seemed like he wasn't going to talk to her. That was fine by her. She didn't want to talk to him either, anyway. Joe went on to add, "I saw your new fashion designs the other day. Beautiful work as always, although I think you're getting a little too risqué with some of your men's clothing."

Sora put her hands over Rika's ears and said something she couldn't make out. But she could see Joe's glasses slide down his nose a little while Matt turned his head in shame. Once she removed her hands, Joe adjusted his glasses and snickered, "I hope your fans appreciate what your wife does for you."

"Sometimes I don't," Matt replied. And it didn't take long for the rest of the friends to show up from there - some weird private investigator name Ken Ichijouji and his wife Miyako. But for some reason everyone called her Yolei. Then there was a mustached lawyer named Cody, and some lanky looking cook named Davis who showed up still wearing his apron and cooking bandana. Soon she was surrounded on all sides by a bunch of adults she didn't want to talk who wouldn't stop chatting. She was about to go into the living room when she overheard the one called Davis ask, "So when's Kari getting here?"

"Aren't you married?" Yolei asked. There was a small laugh from the group before Davis reasoned, "Yes I am. And I'm asking because she's the one who wanted us all to meet up."

She moved to the living room and turned on the TV, hoping to drown them out when there was another knock on the door. Davis threw up his hands excitedly, "Finally!"

She heard the door open and a lot greetings happen, followed by a familiar and annoying voice, "No way, we're going to Rika's house?"

It was that stupid guy Kazu. Which meant it was her friends. She got up, relieved to finally have an excuse to not be around her mom's friends when she heard her mom say, "Oh, do you know my daughter?"

Of course Takato had to answer, "We kinda hang out a lot with her."

"Oh, I didn't even know she had friends in her own age group," her mom said excitedly, "Especially not boys. Then again, she always was a tomboy."

Rika groaned, wanting an out of this conversation while she could. She walked out of the living room to meet them, hoping to get them out to her room before things got more out of hand for her. Out in the entry hall were none other than Takato, Henry, Juri, Kazu, Kenta and that weird teacher she remembered from the other day - presumably the Kari Kamiya from the original draft.

"My room's this way," she said to them, gesturing for them to follow.

"Rika, that's no way to talk to your friends!" her mom scolded her only for the goggle head to add, "That's alright. It's weird to us if she's not talking like that. To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't notice yet, Mimi. Rika did, so I figured you would too."

"Notice what? And how do you know my name?" her mom asked perplexedly. Miss Kamiya smiled at her and greeted, "Hi there, Ruki. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Miss Kamiya, but you can call me Kari. I'm a friend of your mom's and their teacher."

"It's Rika," she corrected, keeping her eye on goggle head as he made his way into the kitchen. Then she heard a very loud smack followed by something hitting the floor. She made her way into the dining room to see Takato on the floor massaging his cheek, Matt standing over him with a raised fist. Takato looked up and grimly replied, "I really should've expected that. Hello to you too, M…erm…Marc? No, that's not…Matt! Yes, Matt!"

"What the hell happened?" her mom demanded as everyone else made their way back into the room. Matt pointed at Takato on the floor, "You know he deserved it."

"Oh, is that him?" her mom raised an eyebrow. Before anything else could happen, the cook and the private detective helped him off the ground. With the chef quietly saying, "Sorry about that. He's under a lot of stress. Well, we all are. So…you're-"

"Yup," Takato nodded, straightening himself out, "Sorry, my head's a little fuzzy still so I might get a lot of this wrong. But if I remember correctly…it's…Matt, Skye, David, Yolei, Wotkin…and um…sorry, I can't remember the rest. Head's still a little dizzy."

"I want to say I'm offended but I'm not sure what else I expected," Joe said from the table, taking off his glasses to clean them, "I mean, you're not right, but you did call every one of them by at least one of those names at least once."

"I think I am offended," Davis scratched his head while Matt cracked his knuckles, "I think I'm going to deck him again."

Before anything else could be said, Kazu jumped in the middle of the room and excitedly called out, "No way! It's really you guys! It's gotta be…Sora, Matt, um…Joe…or are you Ken? Wait, you've gotta be Ken, which makes you Joe. Then that means you're Yolei! And you're Davis and Cody and…this is so cool!"

At the mention of their names, each of the adults frowned, and one of them could be heard muttering, "Dammit, Takeru."

Rika frowned. It seemed that the goggle head had told them who they were. Although she was madder at Kazu for his next remark, "Which makes you Mimi! And…wait! Rika! Your mom is Mimi! Your mom is…wow, the apple really fell far from the tree."

She promptly kicked his shin, making him jump in place in agony. Kenta patted the boy's shoulder, "You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you?"

Once he stopped massaging his shin, Kazu looked up at the teacher, "Wait…wait…oh you've…I'm an idiot. You're Kari Kamiya! You're-! Guys! Do you know who that is? That's Kari Kamiya!"

"Oh good, he's finally figured it out," Henry laughed.

"It's like I said. Different worlds, sitting on top of each other causes your minds to process it in a way that makes sense," Takato explained matter of factly, "It's not until you notice the inconsistencies on your own, or someone points them out to you, that it starts to unravel. In his case though, his mind must've been subconsciously trying not to notice. How else could a fan of the digimon franchise like you miss what was right in front of them the whole time?"

Rika barely followed any of that, but she was sure he just called him dumb. Then she heard Ken groan, "Because of course Takeru had to publish his books."

"He asked our permission so it's not like we can be mad," Cody said, quickly adding. Then he noted Henry, "Hello there, Henry. Find your answer?"

"Yes, sensei," he answered, "Don't tell me you're a digidestined too."

"Indeed I am," he nodded, looking back to the rest of the group, "Takeru may not have changed our names but he changed our descriptions enough that most people wouldn't identify us. Besides, before any of us gets mad: I'm a public defender so anyone can look me up, Matt's a rockstar, Sora's a top fashion designer with a huge following, Mimi's got her own fanbase with her modeling and acting career. If anything, Davis is the only who had a bright idea by becoming a ramen cart owner in a city full of ramen cart owners."

"Had to follow my dream," he said matter of factly, "But we can all catch up later. We have serious problems."

"Right, the digimon," Henry began. Matt pointed at him and began, "Okay, seriously Kari. Who are the kids and why'd you bring them?"

"Because this," Henry pulled out his digivice and unzipped his bag so that Terriermon could hop out, "Finally! I thought I was going to suffocate in there!"

Rika did the same and produced her own digivice. Takato followed their lead and produced both of his. Her mom gasped, "Ruki! Have you been a-"

She quietly made her way to the garden door and slid it open. Then she called out, "Renamon! It's alright. Come out."

Her partner appeared quickly, arms crossed and staring into the room, "Rika, are you sure about this? You've tried so hard to keep me secret."

"Oh wow," her mom said. Rika waited for her to say something about how she didn't like her partner being so cold looking but instead heard, "She's gorgeous! Just look at this fur! And that look! So cool. Sora, you have to make a dress after her. Or a jacket. Tell me, Renamon! Who does your hair?"

"Don't ruin this for me, mom," Rika snapped quickly, dragging the woman away from examining her partner too closely, "She's not gorgeous, she's cool! And don't you dare make a dress after her!"

Then Rika noticed that aside from her mom, the mood in the room was somber. All the adults looked disappointed or alarmed and Terriermon sheepishly stated, "Don't all get excited at once. Did someone die or something?"

"Not yet," Ken explained, "The last few months have been difficult to put it lightly."

"Don't you mean weeks?" Kenta asked them all, stuttering like he was about to pass out, "I mean…all this started only a couple of weeks ago."

"I already explained this Kenta. Well, maybe it's time I reexplain this whole mess. Guys! The world is screwed, reality is combining worlds that shouldn't be near each other and it's making time become convoluted," Takato pointed at Kenta before going over to a wall and taking a pencil from his bag, "It may have been a few weeks for us since this whole mess started but it's been months for them. Like I said, worlds sitting on top of each other."

Then he started drawing on the wall - curved lines, wavy lines, straight lines and more that just kept intersecting each other while all going in the same direction, "Time for your world, your version of reality is moving like this. But now it has to occupy space with another world - one similar enough to yours that you miss the little stuff, but different enough that they're not compatible. Then you have the Digital World trying to enter the mix and…well, you get the idea."

"Stop drawing on my wall, goggle head," Rika smacked the pencil out of his hand. She was glad to hear her mom add, "You better clean that up."

Takato ignored her and turned to the others, "Right, any questions?"

"Okay, start that whole thing over again but without the parts where I have no idea what you're talking about," Davis asked with a raised hand, examining the wall with all the focus that Kazu must've put into anything.

"Forget that, what have we missed from your guys side? Eh? You all look well! Except for the sour moods, which I guess is bad."

They all gave him skeptical looks, and Sora asked, "You mean you don't know?"

Ken added, "Yeah, you're usually on top of all this stuff. So either you're lying or we're royally f-…I mean in serious trouble."

Rika knew what he was going to say and said it anyway, "So we're fucked?"

"RUKI!" her mom snapped until Takato interrupted, "No, I'm not lying. Hand on my hearts, blaster to my head. I've been a little confused since getting into this face. I remember I'm supposed to find someone to help me sort it out but I can't remember who. And the different worlds with different destinies sitting on top of each other makes it hard to tell what's supposed to happen at any given moment. Think like being in a party where everyone's talking to you at once. But there's only three people so I guess that's not a party. Forget the party!"

A pause followed before Kazu said, "Yeah, we're just as confused as you guys are about anything he's saying."

"I don't get the two worlds thing. There's our world and the Digital World. What else is there?" Davis asked, examining the lines on the wall carefully, "You mean the Dark Ocean?"

Takato looked at them like they'd all just drooled, "Don't tell me you guys haven't noticed either? Come on! After everything that happened? You don't remember?"

"Explain it again. Slowly this time," Joe asked calmly.

Takato sighed, "Okay, this worked for the others so maybe it'll work for you guys. Mimi! How old are you? Don't hit me, just answer the question."

"Twenty-six," she answered. Rika blinked. That wasn't her mom's age and she interrupted, "Mom, you're not twenty-six. What, you had me when you were a high schooler? Then again…"

Her mom gasped and slapped the back of her head, "Don't make me wash your mouth, Ruki. Of course I didn't. Your father and I…were both out of high school when…wait, that can't be right. I'm…twenty-six. But you're…does anyone else have a headache?"

The adults all looked at each other with alarm. This must've been like what they were doing when Takato broke the news to them. Each of them were quietly scratching their head. Davis added, "That's right…the girls had a baby shower but that was…"

Takato sighed, "Come on. Concentrate. Think about it! Let's try this. Kari, how long ago did you graduate from university?"

"Not that long ago," Matt answered, "She graduated, started teaching at your school. I played a song for her at my concert."

"So you finished your military service since then?" Takato asked. Matt nodded, "You're damn right I did! It was the roughest five…wait…no, I didn't…Sora?"

"I'm noticing it too," she nodded, "When did we get married? We were dating then. But it's only been a few months and…I don't remember you proposing or a wedding or…"

The adults were now all dazed and confused. Rika looked over at Kari who was massaging her head. Takato patted her back and explained, "Two worlds with different paths. Two different truths, occupying the same space at the same time. They can't both be true, and yet they are. Reality is compensating by making two different people the same person."

Kari paused before saying "So what you're saying is-"

"-in another time, you were born Nami Asaji to the Asaji family," Takato answered with a frown, then turning to Rika's mom, "You were born Makino Rumiko. So on and so on. Your lives have become intertwined."

"Does anyone else know what he's talking about?" Davis asked, "Because none of that made any sense to me. I know I'm not the smart one, but this is making my head spin."

"All our heads are spinning," Ken added.

"I think it makes perfect sense," Joe said, "It also explains a lot. But maybe we should compare notes to make sure we're all on the same page."

"AWESOME!" Kazu sat down, "So what happened after the last book!? You guys go to the Digital World again!? I bet you've fought a lot of bad guys since then."

"A lot happened. Mei still barely talks to us after what happened with her," Sora explained sheepishly, "But the broad strokes are that our digimon all disappeared one day and we haven't been able to get into the Digital World to look for them! Around the same time, Takeru vanished and we have no idea where to. Not to mention Izzy ran off without a word. We've all been worried."

"I wouldn't worry about dad. He walked out on us and I don't care if we never see him again," Rika spat out angrily. The adults began looking at her and she realized she was being angry again. She took a deep breath and added, "Still, I'm sorry about your digimon. That must suck."

Sora frowned, "It does. We're worried."

Takato patter her shoulder, or tried to with how short he was, "I'm sorry. Couple of questions: Who's Mei? What do you mean your digimon are gone? And who's Takeru?"

A beat followed where Matt cracked his knuckles and the rest of the older digidestined shifted uncomfortably. Then Takato asked, "Wait, was Takeru the one who wore all the hats? Aw, I liked him."

"Oh yeah? And what about us?" Ken folded his arms disapprovingly. Takato quickly added, "No offense to you guys but he was the only one willing to wing it and go with the flow. Y'know, let destiny sort it out."

Matt slammed his fist on the table, "Well that could've been the reason he went missing so you'd better help us find him."

Takato apologized, "Sorry, sorry. I'll add it to the To Do List."

Matt was already off the desk with a raised fist, looking ready to deck Takato when there was another knock at the door. Henry looked towards it, "Are you guys expecting someone else?"

"No, we're all here," Mimi said, "Hide your digimon. I'll go see who it is."

Renamon was already gone while Henry was busy stuffing Terriermon back into the bag. As soon as her mom opened the door, she heard a soft gasp. Rika groaned and went to go check on her. Why was she running at all the loud noises today? When she got there, she saw a man in black suit with sunglasses pushing another man in a wheel chair. She felt her heart stop in shock at the mere sight of him, "Dad?"

"Hey Ruki," he said with the biggest smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A surprise reunion! How will Rika react? What will happen when Takato is in the same room as Yamaki? And just what is Impmon up to? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next Friday, July 19th 5 PM CDT! If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section! Don't forget to favorite the story to show support and follow to keep up with all the latest updates! That's all I have for now, so let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> Yamaki wanted to feel happy for Izumi, finally seeing his wife and daughter for the first time in a long time. However, there were urgent matters pressing in the back of his mind that he knew took precedent over this. And the sooner they got out of here the better. From the moment his wife hugged him, Izumi never once let go of her. He noticed a girl standing in the entry way too - a girl with red hair tied into a pony tail that resembled a pineapple. Presumably his daughter.
> 
> He'd seen her somewhere before - where?
> 
> As he tried to recall, he could vaguely hear Izumi's wife asking where he'd been and what happened to him. He couldn't hear whatever answer Izumi gave, but it made his wife walk up to him and slap him across the face. That cold hard smack was something new to Yamaki - he'd never been slapped by anyone's wife before. Her fury was clear on her face too, "How fucking dare you."


	21. Always Ours, Never Yours

Yamaki wanted to feel happy for Izumi, finally seeing his wife and daughter for the first time in a long time. However, there were urgent matters pressing in the back of his mind that he knew took precedent over this. And the sooner they got out of here the better. From the moment his wife hugged him, Izumi never once let go of her. He noticed a girl standing in the entry way too - a girl with red hair tied into a pony tail that resembled a pineapple. Presumably his daughter.

He'd seen her somewhere before - where?

As he tried to recall, he could vaguely hear Izumi's wife asking where he'd been and what happened to him. He couldn't hear whatever answer Izumi gave, but it made his wife walk up to him and slap him across the face. That cold hard smack was something new to Yamaki - he'd never been slapped by anyone's wife before. Her fury was clear on her face too, "How fucking dare you."

"Mom," their daughter gasped from the entry way, just as her mom raised her fist to slap him again. He was on his guard this time and caught her wrist before she could, "Don't do that again."

This close, he could get a better look at her. She was very familiar, but he couldn't quite place it either. The stress must've been affecting his mind if he couldn't place face right now. Then Izumi called out to his wife, "Mimi, it's okay."

"Your leg is missing," she cried angrily, trying to break her hand free to give him another slap. Yamaki wasn't going to let that happen but stayed on guard in case she did something else. Like plant her shoe firmly where it didn't belong. Trying his best to remain calm, he warned her, "If you want your wrist back, you're going to have to let me go. Or I can take you in for assaulting a government employee."

She still glared at him but she stepped back. He let go of her hand and she took the wheelchair from him, "We're getting you inside. Come on."

Yamaki checked his watch and reminded the man, "We don't have time for a lengthy visit, Izumi. We have a time table to stay on. Keep it short."

He paused when his wife turned to glare daggers into him. He'd seen a lot of things in his time, but this woman was enough to unnerve him. There was...an anger or coldhearted ruthlessness in them. He mused at the old saying 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' He didn't want to find out what the other end of that fury was, but the fact that she slapped him was not a good sign. Who knows where else she would go if pushed. He checked his watch and added, "Twenty minutes."

"As long as he'd like," she fired back furiously.

He had to stay firm though. No more. That didn't make the daggers in her eyes any less threatening. She eventually turned back around to pushing her husband through the threshold. He had to stay close though and began to follow them inside. The daughter seemed to mind her distance from both parents, which he made a mental note of. Maybe her dad's absence affected her in some way. He felt compelled to ask her if they'd met before, but realized that would come off as really weird and creepy. Then he saw everyone else peering out into the entry way. There was a murmur of excitement and confusion as Izumi was quickly surrounded by what must've been his friends. Then he realized who they were: the digidestined. The ones he'd been having a hard time tracking down.

And worst of all was who was right there with them. That goggle wearing boy in the hoodie. The boy looked at him and smiled, "Oh, it's you. Sunglasses! What are you doing here? And why do you have...was it Dizzy?"

"I could ask you the same question," Yamaki replied, crossing his arms to hide the fact that he was trying to reach for his gun. If this kid was here, that meant the other kids here were also the kids who'd been interfering with his operations. How did he miss this? Of course they were connected! The digidestined had been kids when they got involved in this mess the first time. Why wouldn't there be new kids now?

He paused as he realized how ludicrous that sounded. The 'digidestined' were kids during an event that happened only a few years ago. But as quickly as that concern came, he pushed it out of his mind to focus on his situation. If the goggle wearing boy tried anything again, he intended to pull the trigger this time. Izumi looked at the boy, "Who's this?"

Miss Kamiya replied, "Izzy! This is The Digimon Tamer."

"I'm kinda going by Takato right now," he answered sheepishly, before going to shake Izumi's hand, "I remember you being taller Izzy. Have you done something different?"

"I'm in a wheel chair," Izumi replied rather dryly, turning the wheels of his chair to face Takato. Takato examined him more carefully, "Sorry, memory's still kinda fuzzy. Oh, I see! You lost a leg. That's not really a good look, y'know. You looked better with two. Am I being rude? I'm being rude, aren't I?"

Izumi frowned, examining the boy carefully, "Yes. Besides, if we're talking about appearances, you're the one who's got a whole new face…among other things. It is you, right?"

Takato's smile grew wide, "Yep, reformatted. Head's still a little fuzzy though. There's been a lot going on and-"

"Shut up. We'll talk later," Izumi said calmly, raising a hand to silence the boy. Yamaki was taken aback by how quickly he silenced the boy, unaware that Izumi was capable of showing enough backbone to not only stand up to him, but to a boy who talked down a man with a gun. He turned his chair again to face his wife, staring deeply into her eyes with a longing look. They looked at each other for the longest hand, taking her hand in his and sheepishly saying, "Mimi...I'm sorry for everything. I wanted to see you, I really did. But-"

"We...we can talk about this later," Mimi answered, pressing a finger to his lips, "Welcome home. And go say hi to your mom already. She's been just as worried as I am."

"In a moment," he turned his wheelchair towards his daughter. She'd been oddly silent since they arrived and he wasn't sure what to make of it. But Yamaki wasn't interesting in any of this family drama. He was only interested in Izumi, the rest of the adults, and possibly this Takato kid. He stepped to the side to address Takato only to be stopped by a tall man in a business suit under a trench, "I don't think we've met. Who are you exactly?"

"You can call me Yamaki," he nodded towards the man, eyeing him up carefully. Going by the look on his face, he concluded the man was likely someone worked in the realm of law. He wasn't clean shaven enough to be a lawyer, which meant either private detective. And that meant, "You must be Ken Ichijouji. We've been trying to find you for a while. You're very difficult to find."

Ichijouji had moved a hand inside his coat pocket since he'd stopped Yamaki and that made him nervous. Nervous enough to keep his hand on his gun. Ichijouji was reaching for something, probably his own gun, but he offered a kind smile to calm him down, "A guy in my line of work doesn't live long if he doesn't learn how to disappear or be careful. Would you mind taking your hand off that gun? The last thing any one wants is to make an unnecessary mess. We can talk."

"How about you take your hands out of your pocket first?" Yamaki wasn't about to back down and kept his hand on his gun. He only broke eye contact when Takato called out, "Oi! No killing guys. Come on. We have enough problems without you two trying to see who's the better shot. As far as I care, you're a horrible shot anyway Sunglasses. As for you, Wotkin. I thought you were better than this. When did you start carrying a gun?"

"It's Ken," Ichijouji corrected. The boy smacked his head, "Right, right. Ken. And um…who are you again? I know you pointed the gun at me but I don't remember ever getting your name."

Yamaki could feel the eyes on him now as every adult reacted to that statement. Some were clearly upset, but a handful seemed jealous. He kept his cool and calmly introduced himself, "It's Yamaki."

"Yamaki. Okay, Yamaki," Takato folded his arms, "Why are you here and why are you after all the digimon?"

Yamaki could already feel his problems compounding just from the boy talking. The other adults were looking at him again and one of them asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"That's classified," he answered quickly, wanting to end this conversation quickly. Unfortunately, Takato already began to answer, "He and a bunch of other guys have been running around the city, capturing digimon for some reason. I don't know why though. Also, what were you doing with Dizzy?"

"Izzy."

"That's what I said…I think," Takato paused. Yamaki didn't like being surrounded like this and minded his distance, "The answer is still classified."

"Hang on," a woman interrupted. He hadn't noticed her before but there was no doubt in his mind: this was Kari Kamiya - the only one he was able to track down that wasn't a high profile celebrity. She pointed at him, "I remember you. You were at my apartment. You were talking about national security and a bunch of other stuff that made no sense. What does any of that have to with Izzy? Who even are you?"

"I could tell you if you were willing to cooperate with us," he answered. He could tell they were getting mad at him and he tightened his hold on his gun. Unfortunately for him, Izumi took this chance to join the conversation, "I'll tell you guys. Could I get some of whatever Mimi made though? I can smell it from here and it smells amazing, like always."

"Cakes, cookies, brownies, and anything else you could want honey," Mimi said cheerily, helping to push her husband into kitchen. Everyone filed back into the dining room then, where Izumi's mother gasped at the sight of him. They had a tearful exchange where she berated him for disappearing and worried over his missing leg before finally letting him eat. As Izumi happily took platefuls of cookies, cakes, and scarfed it all down like he hadn't eaten before. Yamaki felt his stomach churn as he watched the man eat, making sure he was in full view of Izumi whenever one of them asked where he'd been and why he hadn't been heard from in a while. He didn't want Izumi to say too much whenever he spoke about the Hypnos Program. Although it wasn't like he could do anything about it with Ichijouji standing next to him. Thankfully, his wife was quick to shut them all down, "Give him space guys! Geez."

"It's alright," Izumi said through a mouthful of food. His wife flicked his forehead and scolded him, "No talking with your mouthful. Did you forget your manners or something?"

He forcefully swallowed what was in his mouth, and set the plate down, "The truth is I was recruited to work for...Yamaki."

He gestured towards Yamaki, carefully choosing his words, "And I'm partially responsible for all this. They wanted me to...help stop the digimon from coming through to our world. I agreed to help them but...I didn't know what kind of project it was. By the time I did, I tried to leave. But they wouldn't let me because of how classified my work was."

The more he talked, the more Yamaki wanted him to stop talking. He took a step towards the man and felt the detective grab his arm. He looked over to see the man still had his hand in his pocket.

"Izzy, what did you do?" the private detective asked, his tone indicating he was at the very least catching on. Izumi's head sank and he buried his face into his hands, "I was trying to manufacture a gate to the Digital World using the technology from our digivices - one that would pull digimon back into the Digital World. But that wasn't their plan. They wanted to kill the digimon and…I had no choice but to finish the project. It worked on test specimens…deleting any digimon that got pulled through. But there was a problem during its first official firing and the machine failed. The wormhole it created between our worlds is still open. And it's why more and more powerful digimon have been coming through."

He had seriously underestimated Izumi. A man like him would've left that part out to save face, but Izumi admitted to it despite all the guilt he felt for developing the weapon. The dark haired boy in the orange vest chose that moment to ask, "You're talking about when the top of the Metropolitan Building blew up, aren't you? That was when the first Deva came through! Mihiramon."

"Mihiramon? I don't know the name of the digimon that came through," Izumi admitted quietly, "Only that it was my responsibility."

Another man was fuming, a short haired blonde man with a muscular build hidden beneath layers of clothing. If he had to guess, this was the rockstar who was also former military - Matt Ishida. The man grunted, "Izzy, you didn't. How could you!? After everything we've been through, you just...did this."

"I'm not proud of what I did," Izumi shook quietly, trying to maintain his composure as he guiltily added, "But this is my mistake, it's my responsibility. And I will fix it."

"No you won't," Takato said sternly. It was odd to see a kid talking to adults so sternly and even weirder to see them actually listening. Takato waved his hands in the air excitedly as he talked, "We need that gate open because we need to go to the Digital World and-"

"Go? Who said anything about going to the Digital World!?" Miss Kamiya interrupted. Mimi added, "That's right! You're not going anywhere without us!"

"I meant when and why," Miss Kamiya explained, "But yes, you are taking us."

"If I can finish!" Takato yelled, pausing as he realized he raised his voice and quickly apologizing, "Sorry, I shouldn't raise my voice. Sorry. Um, we're going soon. As for the why, it to figure out what's going on the other side. Because the real question isn't how do we stop them from crossing over. The question is why? Right now, that gate you just tore open in reality might be our only way to get there and back."

"Not a chance," Yamaki finally interjected, "That hole in reality let through large and dangerous monsters. Izumi is going to close that gate the first chance he gets."

Takato shook his head, "Yamaki, if closing that gate was really going to stop all the digimon from coming through, then explain how they were coming through before the gate opened in the first place."

Yamaki paused. That was why he was recruiting the Monster Makers. But he couldn't tell them that, "That's a separate issue and we're already exploring solutions to it."

"Good, then you won't mind if we keep Izzy here," Takato asserted, "I'm sure he misses his wife and...Wait, hang on. Rika! Izzy's your dad! That just sank in. It's no wonder you noticed all the weird stuff! You took after him! He always was the smart one!"

"Oh, do you still use that name? It's so cute," Izumi smirked playfully over at his daughter who looked completely mortified now. He couldn't blame her for that. She clearly picked that name for herself to make herself sound cooler, and the adorableness or that fact must've been mortifying to her.

* * *

Rika felt her face flush with embarrassment. She didn't like her preferred name being called cute. And it didn't help that this happened in front of all these people. If it wasn't for the fact that they were talking about the fate of the world in their home, she would've stormed right out. She massaged her temple, "Can we go back to talking about the Digital World?"

Takato nodded, "Right, right. So, to catch you guys up on what we've been doing: we've been trying to stop as many of these digimon as we can. It hasn't been going too well because most of them would rather fight to the death. Even the stronger digimon. But we found out they're after The Catalyst, this energy source Guardians used to-"

"Guardians?" Davis repeated in confusion. Takato waved his hands as he spoke, "Sorry, Ancients. Guardians. Same thing, different names. My point is: it was sent here to hide it from something dangerous in their world. Only now they need it back, because they need it to fight whatever…is on the other side."

"You mean the Ancients?" Sora asked. Takato grew frustrated, "No, the sovereigns. The ones who sent them here. It's why all those strong digimon have started showing up! They want the catalyst back now. Which is why we're going to the Digital World. Because whatever has the Sovereigns scared should make us scared. And as long as the digimon are able to cross into this world, so can whatever terrifying beast is on the other end. Still with me? Any questions?"

After a beat, the mustachioed lawyer raised his hand, "Several: What does that have to do with our digimon disappearing? Is this related to Takeru? And why is that guy still here? Should we really be talking about this around him?"

Takato took one glance at Yamaki and shrugged, "Him? He's harmless. I think."

"Hey, I have a question: why are you all listening to him?" Yamaki asked, raising what Rika felt was the first valid question. Why were all these experienced adults listening to him? Yes, he was some important guy back in the Digital World but he seemed just as lost and confused as they were. But agreeing didn't mean she liked the guy. Everything about him made her uneasy. The adults looked between each other and one dressed like a cook explained, "When we were his age, he was the one who knew what was going on because-"

Yamaki interrupted, "I know all about your lives digidestined. I want to know why you're listening to a kid."

"Because if he's talking, it's usually a good idea to hear him out," Matt grunted, "Whether or not we want to."

Seeing Yamaki look confused as all hell was amusing to Rika in a way she couldn't express into words. Takato put a hand to his chin, "I'm not really sure what's going on right now. The important thing is we get to the Digital World and figure out from that side. I don't think the Devas are going to talk to us after last time."

"Devas? What happened last time?" her dad asked. There was a lot he had missed. And a lot more they needed to talk about. She had no intention of talking to her family about digimon before but now...there was much too talk about. Before Takato could explain, she started talking - telling them about everything that had happened up until that point of time. Included the Devas, the catalyst Calumon that could make digimon digivolve, and the number of them that had come through. She was annoyed by the fact that both of her parents and her grandmother were giving her unwanted looks of worry - she'd been doing fine before and would be doing fine long after. Her father frowned before managing a small smile, "It sounds like you guys have been busy...and a lot more effective than we've been right now."

Davis smiled approvingly, rubbing his chin, "They have their digimon partners and working digivices. It's no wonder they're able to do more than us. So when are we going to the Digital World?"

"Yeah, I'd like to see Palmon as soon as possible," her mom shrieked excitedly. Palmon...the plant digimon. The more Rika was able to think on it without getting a headache, the more concerned she became that her parents were the ditz and the geek from the digidestined books. Takato threw up his hands, "You aren't going anywhere. To be honest, I think it'd make more sense for just us with digimon to go. Our digimon can protect us. They can't protect a large group. Especially if it means we can't find your partners right away."

Whatever cool the rockstar Matt was trying to have vanished, "And why the hell not? They're not just our partners! They're our friends! If they're in danger, we're going to come to their rescue. And you better like hell believe that I'm not staying behind if my brother is in danger!"

"Matt," his wife took a hold of his hand, holding it in a comforting way. He cooled down enough for the doctor to suggest, "I hate to agree, but he's right. As much as I'd like to see Gomanon again, we'd only drag the others down. And while I'm not comfortable with leaving Takeru in danger, I feel like he's proven he can handle himself time and again."

"I'm not letting my daughter go to the Digital World alone!" her mom complained. Rika was surprised by that statement - mostly she just never expected her mother to care so deeply about anything besides fashion and modeling. The doctor pointed at her and wagged a finger, "Why not? We spent a couple of weeks trapped there, remember? We were barely any older than they are now. So what's so bad about them going alone?"

"She might die!" her mom freaked out. Then her dad took her mom's hand, squeezing it as he worriedly said, "Mimi...you're sounding like your father."

Horror. Rika never thought she'd see the day where her mom looked absolutely terrified. And it made her uncomfortable to see. Her mom shot death glares at Takato, "You're not dragging her off to get killed, you got that?"

Takato threw up his hands defensively, "I don't even know what's going on right now. How would I know if she's going to die? Between the headaches, it took me about a year to remember who I was and that was with people telling me my name was something else every hour of every day. I have no idea what's going to happen when we get there. But-"

"But what? What _but_ are you talking about?" her mom snapped at him again. It felt nice to watch her mom snap at Takato and even better that someone else was calling him out on the stupid things he says. She wasn't prepared for his response though, and she was sure her mom felt the same way, "I was going to say 'but that doesn't mean we should stand by and do nothing'. Because sitting here and catching every digimon that comes through isn't doing anything to solve the problem. I think it's actually making it worse. And Rika doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd listen if you told her not to do something anyway."

"And what's that supposed to mean goggle head?" Rika finally spoke, noting that he took a step back nervously, "Nothing bad. Just that you don't like to be told what you can and can't do. You do what you want when you want, how you want. I mean, you just swore in front of your mom."

Rika folded her arms, smiling at what she was sure his attempt at a complement. She'd let it pass for now. Kari sighed, "So then when are you going to the Digital World and how long are you going to stay there?"

Takato's mood turned, "I don't know. A couple of days, maybe weeks? With time convoluted the way it is, I don't know how long we'll be there. It could days there but seconds here."

* * *

Xiaochun sung to herself as she poured some more fake tea for herself and Calumon. In truth, since she couldn't have real tea, all she poured was soda from her play set. Calumon sat in his little pink dress drinking the soda. Then she cut out pieces of cake for herself and Calumon. The tea may be fake but the sweets were real. Once she sat to eat, she asked, "So Mrs. Prissy pants, how do you like your tea?"

"It's delicious!" Calumon said excitedly. She may have missed having Terriermon around but Calumon was a lot more fun to play with. She was about to help herself to some more cake until there was a tap on her window. There was a little black imp wearing a red scarf and gloves gesturing at her to open the window. She normally wasn't allowed anywhere near the window because their apartment was so high up but he must've been a friend of Calumon. Why else would he be here?

She went over and unlocked the window, barely having the second to open it before the little imp jumped in, "It's about time. Who are you?"

"I'm Xiaochun!" she introduced herself, "Who are you?"

The little digimon grunted, "Hmph. Name's Impmon. Imma call you Suzie cos' that name o' yours is too long to remember. You's Calumon, right?"

"That's right!" the little white digimon said excitedly, "Want some tea?"

He offered a cup for Impmon, who could only look at the little digimon like he had done something wrong. Impmon sighed, "Okay, what's the matta' with you? First o' all: that ain't tea! It's soda! Second! Why are you in a dress!? If you's as tough as everyone says you are, then get outta that! It's disrespectful!"

He ripped the dress straight off little Calumon. Xiaochun felt her heart sink at the sight of watching one of her favorite dresses get ripped apart. Calumon even got teary eyed, "Oh! I liked that dress! It made me feel pretty!"

"Forget about it!" Impmon grabbed a hold of the little digimon, "I gotta get you to the monkey!"

"Monkey? What monkey?" Calumon asked, struggling to break free of Impmon's grip. Impmon scoffed and continued on towards the window, "I dunno, I can't remember the name. Some monkey. Wants to talk to ya. Said to get ya from the humans. We're going to the park! Now!"

Realizing that Impmon was going to take Calumon away, she ran in front of them and threw out her hands, "No! Calumon has to stay here with me!"

"Don't care! Beat it!" Impmon kicked her in the shin so hard that she fell on her side. That hurt so bad! Why did Impmon have to be so mean? What did she ever do to him? She looked at him with teary eyes, watching Calumon scream in protest as Impmon leapt out the window, "SHADDAP! WE"RE GOIN'!"

He leapt out the window, taking Calumon with him. Xiaochun was angry, furious at Impmon for taking right out from under her nose but also at herself. Henry said to protect him. And he would be so mad when he found out what happened. Her mind raced through all the mean things he would say to her and what bad things might happen to Calumon. And that just made her sad. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her ears and she was bawling.

That was when the door to her room opened and her dad came in, "Xiaochun! What's wrong!?"

She wailed, "WAAGGH! DADDY! CALUMON! SOME MEAN DIGIMON SHOWED UP AND TOOK HIM!"

"Took him?" her dad noticed the window was open and went to see for himself, "There's no one out here. Dammit. We better go find him. If he's as important as Henry says he is, there's no telling what kind of trouble he'll get into."

"DADDY!" she cried out, "PLEASE DON'T BE MAD! I'M SORRY I LOST HIM."

"I'm not mad honey," he assured her, hugging her and wiping away her tears with his sleeve, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. I just have to go find him. Stay right here and I'll be right back."

He let her go and hurried out of the room. Xiaochun sniffled, certain of her mistake and scared that a scolding was going to follow sooner or later.

* * *

Henry wandered away from the rest of the group, sure that he wasn't needed for the next part of the conversation and went out into the garden. He was surprised to see Rika lived in such a fancy home and wondered what her parents did to afford this kind of life. Then again, one was a government agent and the other was as pretty as a model. They were probably loaded! Terriermon stuck his head out of the bag and asked, "Henry! Can we go back inside! I want me some of those brownies!"

"We can go back in once that government guy leaves. I don't want him to see you," Henry assured his partner. As he sat there, he heard the back door slide open and saw his sensei come out to join him with the doctor. He wasn't sure how he'd missed until now that his sensei was one of the digidestined. Then again, he also missed the fact that one of the teacher's at his school was part of the team.

His sensei greeted him first, "I hope you don't mind if we join you, Henry. It's a little crowded in there and it'd be nice to get some air and clear our heads."

"No problem, sensei," he bowed in greeting. His sensei lifted his head back up, "No, we're not at the dojo right now. Out here, we're just digidestined. Or…whatever. What is your team's name?"

"We don't really have one," Henry mulled it over, scratching his head, "But we have been called Tamer a lot by the digidestined. I think it's because the digimon didn't know who we were so they kept confusing us for Tamer or Takato or whatever."

"Now that would be something," his sensei laughed, "I don't think you've met properly, this is Joe. He's a doctor and the most reliable of us."

Joe shook his hand, "Nice to meet you Henry. So how does it feel, finding out all of this real?"

"It's all very surreal. It's hard to believe all of this is still actually happening," he frowned. Joe patted his shoulder, "Don't worry. We've had this problem before. But it looks like you made the choice you needed to, though."

"Yeah," Henry nodded, "But the more involved I get, the more my family gets involved too. First my sister, now my dad. If I didn't know any better, I'd say my whole family was going to become part of this."

His sensei and Joe swapped looks, "Déjà vu, right?"

"Indeed."

"What?" Henry raised an eyebrow. Both of them laughed for a moment, chuckles turning to bursting laughter before either of them calmed down. His sensei wiped a tear from his eye, "Sorry. It's just strange how familiar this all is. In fact, that's why Matt is so worked up over Takeru. And that's before we get into the time their mom got shot. If anything ever happened to your sister, I'm sure you'd be freaking out too."

"That's not the most flattering comparison," Henry looked back in to see Matt slamming his fist on a table angrily. Terriermon only laughed, "I think it fits. He's so uptight, kinda like you. You need to relax."

"Hey! I'm not hitting things!" Henry pointed out quickly.

"Moumantai," his partner and sensei said together. Henry blinked, unaware that he was going to hear things in stereo now. He looked over at his sensei who was bursting with laughter, "Another Terriermon says it! I never thought I'd see the day!"

Something about the laughter was a little contagious, and he chuckled nervously. Terriermon patted his back, "See what I mean? So uptight. You can't even laugh properly."

Henry's laughter turned into a silent pause and his sensei patted his head, "It's okay to be anxious. the danger you're in is very real. The fact that you're taking it seriously means you'll deal with it properly. The last thing you want is to make light of it. You may do something you'll regret."

That last part was particularly alarming. What did he mean by regret? What part of the story of the digidestined did he not know. More importantly, it reminded him that his family was indeed at risk with everything going on, "What do you mean?"

"If we've learned anything over the years, it's that sometimes you do the wrong thing when you think you're in the right," the doctor explained, gesturing back into the house, "If you ever read any of Takeru's novels or seen the show, you know what I mean. Ken was the Emperor, SkullGreymon, he changed Oikawa's story but he hit the key points, and more. By being light, I didn't mean you were being light hearted about it. I meant you were contemplating things and thinking. And every group needs that voice of reason. Especially when Tamer starts getting weird."

Henry looked back inside to see Takato talking animatedly. Maybe there was a point to being the voice of reason in all of this. Then again, Rika was doing that job just fine. Still, it was nice to know that he wasn't along in being hesitant to get involved.

* * *

Juri listened to Takato ramble on, "As for when, that all depends on how long it takes to get the digivices to start opening gates again. Could be a few days, maybe even a week! Thankfully, we have a solution to that problem and the solution is-"

She tuned out the moment she noticed Miss Kamiya staring at him with the most curious expression. It was like she was trying to study him. She glanced back over to Takato still babbling whatever he was going on about and quietly moved her way over to their teacher, whispering to get her attention, "Miss Kamiya?"

"Hm? What is it, Juri?" she asked. Juri nodded her head at the boy, trying not to draw anyone's attention, "Are you okay, Miss Kamiya? You've been staring at Takato like you're going to punish him."

"I just might, honestly," she answered calmly, looking back over at him, "It's a very long story and I'm sure you don't want to hear about it."

Juri didn't like the sound of that and asked, "What exactly happened? You knew him a long time ago, right? Did he do something?"

She shot her a surprised look, "I thought all you kids were into digimon."

Juri felt awkward about that, "Not me. I mean, not really. I just kinda ended up a part of whatever this is. I don't know much about the card game, or the show, or the books, or any of it."

Kari nodded understandingly, "I'll keep it short. A long time ago, my brother disappeared when I was maybe four years old. The next time I saw him: four years had passed, he had no idea who I was, kept calling himself The Digimon Tamer, and he was trying to save the world from being destroyed. Then he got stuck in the Digital World. Next time I saw him, he said he couldn't meet with us because he was on the run but that he trusted us to save the world. Then he died. Now he's back, with a whole new face and name, and the world's in trouble again."

Juri felt her head spin from the explanation, glancing back at Takato with genuine surprise. She knew he called himself The Digimon Tamer but she didn't know all that about him. Rika's words in the park echoed in her mind, reminding her that she wasn't supposed to trust him. And the more she learned, the more she realized she didn't know about him. It made her dread what other secrets he could be keeping. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder gently, "Sorry, I didn't mean to put all that on you. Just forget about it. It's my problem."

Juri contemplated telling her about what Takato had said too - that he wasn't the real Takato. Before she could, Takato and Rika's digivices went off with a loud beeping noise. At the same time, the government guy with the shades stepped out of the room to answer a call on his cell phone. The guy dressed like a cook peered at their digivices excitedly, "Whoa, what's that? Ours never did that!"

Rika examined her digivice calmly while explaining, "They do this whenever a digimon is crossing over from the other side. That's weird though - it's not saying anything is coming through."

"Maybe it's broken? Like ours are?" Miss Kamiya lifted up her digivice, "It's why we can't get to the Digital World or-"

"No, this is different," Takato turned the digivice over in his hand, "What if...oh...oh, of course!"

"What is it?" Juri hadn't seen that look before but his excitement must've meant he'd realized something. He started pacing excitedly, "The only time we've seen our digivices go off is when digimon appear. But what if the reason they go off isn't because digimon are appearing, that was just a coincidence! What if the reason they go off is because a gate is opening from the Digital World to this one! It's why it wouldn't go off whenever that thing Izzy was making would turn on."

"So what does that mean?" Rika's mom asked seriously. At that moment, Henry came back in with the doctor and the lawyer. Takato pointed at him and asked, "Where's Calumon?"

"At home with my sister. Where else would he be?" Henry answered anxiously, "You guys got it too! What's going on?"

Takato turned to Rika's mom, "Do you have a phone we could borrow?"

"In the living room," she said matter of factly, gesturing off into the house. Juri turned her head, wondering just what exactly had happened between them that caused so much animosity. Takato turned back to Henry, "Call your sister quick."

A look came across Henry's face as if he realized something and he hurriedly followed Rika's mom into the kitchen to borrow their phone. Annoyed at being kept out of the loop, Rika demanded from Takato, "Why? Goggle head! What's going on? What's got you so freaked out?"

"We still have three Devas on the loose," Takato answered in a panic, "And a gate is opening between worlds. That means one of two things: either something really big is about to squeeze through once that gate is big enough, or something else is about to jump through from our side to the other one. Whichever it is, the gate is opening on the other side. Either way is bad news for us and we'd better make sure we have Calumon when either one happens."

"What makes you so sure?" Kazu asked skeptically, watching Takato continue to pace anxiously. It didn't help that he anxiously answered, "I'm not. I have a powerful headache from sensory overload, a ton of things are happening that don't make sense, and this digivice which makes no sense won't turn off which doesn't help either. I'm not sure, I'm just being cautious."

Henry raced back into the room, "Xiaochun says Impmon just took Calumon."

"Impmon? Who's Impmon?" Rika asked, "Wait, was he that guy who showed up and ran off?"

At this moment, Renamon appeared again just behind her, "Impmon? That little rookie took Calumon?"

"You know who that is?" Henry asked. Renamon nodded, "I ran into him a few times over the course of my time here in the Real World. He was always by himself and was constantly trying to convince me to abandon our partnership. He believed working with humans was beneath the skills of a digimon. I tended to ignore him most of the time. Why would he steal Calumon?"

"Maybe he was trying to do that thing you were talking about? Get Calumon away from Henry's sister," Kenta suggested, "What do you think Takato? Takato!?"

Takato was already at the front door getting his shoes back on, "Going to get Guilmon! I'll meet you guys where the gate is opening. Oh! Kazu, Juri! I'll need you guys to come with me!"

Juri and Kazu swapped confused glances, "What for?"

"Guilmon doesn't move well in the box, so three of us can clear a path for him as he moves!" Takato answered urgently, picking their shoes up of the floor and tossing it their way, "Now come on! We got a little digimon to save!"

"Well, we're coming too!" Rika's mom declared, picking up her things, "If digimon are involved, you better believe we-"

"Mom, no!" Rika interrupted her, "You guys don't even have digimon! Digidestined or not, all you guys would do is slow us down! Our partners can't fight whatever we're up against and protect you at the same time."

"She's right, y'know," the doctor said, adjusting his glasses and looking at her mom calmly, "As frustrating as it is to say, we're all but useless right now. It'd be better to leave this to them since they're the ones who're actually involved in it right now. Have faith in your daughter, Mimi. She's got that same attitude you did when you were her age."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rika and her mom scowled at the same time, making both of them pause at that statement. The doctor was the only one to laugh, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Besides, you might want to spend more time with your husband and we have to deal with the other guy."

He gestured at the government agent who was still on his phone on the other side of the room. As much as she didn't like it, Rika's mom seemed to take the hint and nodded towards her daughter. She looked about ready to break down crying but didn't, instead saying, "Ruki, just promise me you'll come back alive, okay?"

"I will," she answered rather coldly. Then her dad spoke, "Ruki. When you get back, let's talk, okay?"

"R-right," she nodded, hurrying towards the door. As they made their way outside, Juri looked sideways at Rika and said, "I'm happy your family's back together."

"Whatever," she answered, making a point of looking directly away from her. Although she wasn't saying it, Juri guessed that she was a lot happier than she wanted to let on. As they headed out, Takato tossed Kenta his bag, "Here! Take the smoke bombs! You know what to do! Let's go!"

* * *

Yamaki made his way back inside in time to see all six kids hurrying back out. There was no doubt they were on their way to that Wild one bioemerging right now. It bothered him to think six kids had better control over a situation than an entire government organization dedicated to doing the same thing. Still, time was of the essence. He made his way back into the dining room and called out to Izumi, "We need to go. We have another wild one bioemerging."

"They're called digimon," he said flatly. Yamaki was glad he was wearing sunglasses. He didn't want to think about what Izumi's wife would do if she saw him rolling his eyes at her husband. He tried to make his way to Izumi's wheelchair but was blocked again by his wife, "You're not taking him anywhere. He's staying right here."

Yamaki paused, examining the woman carefully. She shouldn't have been as intimidating as she was but he stood firm, trying to calm himself before he said anything he shouldn't. Once he was calm, he took off his sunglasses, "Let me make this clear. You might have no compulsion with sending kids off into danger to get themselves killed. But I do. And I'll be damned if I stand by and let history repeat itself with those kids. I'm taking your husband and we're leaving. And if you want to stand by so that another massacre can happen, then you can do it from that side of the room. Get out of my way."

She stood exactly where she was, refusing to move. He didn't want it to come to this. He drew his gun and aimed it for her head. There were several gasps and the detective quickly drew his own. Still, his wife stood where she was, refusing to get out of harm's way despite the obvious danger she was in. She was courageous, he had to give her that. But he didn't need it right now. He needed to get Izumi back to headquarters.

"Mimi," Izumi began, wheeling his chair over to get her attention. He pulled her back behind his chair, "I'll go with you. We still need to help stop whatever is happening. But I'm only going to work on my terms. Not yours. Juggernaut...I'm not going to use it for your purposes any more."

Yamaki eyed everyone in the room carefully. He didn't want a massacre and all it would take was one misfire for all of this to go downhill. He lowered his gun and returned it to its holster, adding, "Nothing gets done without my approval. Understand, Izumi?"

"Izzy," his wife corrected. The biggest, most loving smile appeared on Izumi's face - the kind one could have only when they saw the person they loved the most, "Don't worry. I'm not going to disappear again. I'll email you guys the address."

"Izumi," Yamaki warned him. The last thing he wanted were all these people to suddenly show up in the Hypnos HQ. Izumi answered by raising his middle finger and continued talking to his wife, "And the clearance codes. Don't worry."

"IZUMI!" Yamaki said more loudly to get his attention. The man looked up with a mischievous smile, "I mean, you did want to recruit them, right? So what's the issue?"

"Recruit them. Not have them or you take over my operation," Yamaki explained bitterly, watching Izumi wheel his way to the front, "It's not like we can screw it over any worse than you guys have. If anything, we're the ones with the most experience when it comes to this kind of thing. So why shouldn't we run it?"

"Yeah, great job with that. The world got invaded twice under your watch," Yamaki remarked sarcastically, taking hold of Izumi's chair so he couldn't get away, "So nice try but no deal. Still there is an opportunity before us - you can come too if you want. Help out."

"Not interested," his wife replied. Yamaki clicked his tongue and continued pushing Izumi towards the door. As they passed the threshold, Izumi remarked, "Don't worry. You'll come around to our way of doing things soon enough."

Yamaki wouldn't count on it. When did his life start spiraling so far out of control?

* * *

Rika, Henry, and Kenta chased the gate, using Rika's digivice to lead the way. After they ran several blocks, Kenta asked, "How much further is it? You'd think people would be freaking out by now!"

Rika looked down at her digivice, watching the arrow move along the screen until it was pointing behind them. She stopped in her tracks and both boys crashed into her from behind. She pushed her self back up and spat out, "Watch it!"

"Why'd you stop Rika?" Henry asked, dusting himself off as he got up and helping Kenta off the ground. Rika looked back down at her digivice to make sure she wasn't seeing it wrong. The arrow continued to move, pointing the way they came from and then continued on. Her digivice had to be broken. She snapped her fingers, "Digivice."

"Uh, sure," Henry produced his digivice and showed it to her, "Why do you…oh."

"What is it?" Kenta asked, peering at the screen.

"The gate is moving," Rika announced, "It's back the way we came from now!"

* * *

As Takato, Juri, and Kazu ran past a crowd of people running away from the park. They must've looked insane to be running towards it. This wasn't right. They weren't running in the direction of the gate, so why were people running away from the park. They got their answer when they finally reached the park entrance, only to see Leomon and Andromon standing beside Guilmon facing off against the horse and the sheep Devas Pajiramon and Vajramon. Kazu shouted, "Oh great, they're back!"

"It's all right, Andromon and Leomon are on our side," Takato explained, running in to join his partner, "Guilmon! What's going on?"

The little dinosaur was too busy growling at the devas to answer him and Takato tried shaking his partner to get his attention, "Guilmon! Hey! It's me! What happened?"

"Targets ahead! Exposition: Devas attacked us. We are acting in self defense," Andromon answered mechanically, "Preparing defensive measures!"

Kazu cheered as an array of lasers, guns, and blades appeared out of Andromon's body, "Whoa! Dude! That is awesome! What is all that? Takato! Where did you find these guys?"

"Juri found them," Takato gestured her way, looking ahead at Pajiramon, "Why are you guys here? We're trying to help! So why did all those people run away screaming?"

"Help! Hah! Tell that to Vajramon," Indramon answered gutturally. Right away, Takato tried pleading, "We didn't want that to happen. If the Digital World is in danger like you said it is, then we need to work together! Let us help!"

"You've helped enough," Pajiramon spat back angrily. As she spoke, a mist began to appear behind them along with a blindingly bright light. Just the sight of it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on in terror and she closed her eyes to keep from being blinded. Through what little bit she could see with her eyes open just a crack, Juri asked, "What are they doing?"

Leomon roared, "They're trying to force open a portal to the Digital World. Something from the other side must be doing it."

"What? But the gate isn't opening here!" Takato shouted, trying to examine his digivice, "It's opening over at…it's moving?"

"Indeed it is!" announced a monkey wearing a fez. It held Calumon tucked carefully inside a cage which he jangled tauntingly, "Greetings! I am Makuramon. I do apologize for the interruption but opening gates between worlds is tricky business and, unfortunately, we're not specialized in that. Thank you for keeping the Catalyst safe for us, but we must take it back!"

"Guys! HELP! GUILMON! HELP ME!" Calumon screamed out, closing his eyes just as the symbol on his forehead began to glow again. Light erupted forth, streaming out towards Guilmon, "GUILMON! DIGIVOLVE TO! GROWLMON!"

Nobody knew the little guy had it in him to make someone digivolve on command like that but it did. For a brief moment, it seemed like they could win. A moment Makuramon dispelled when he cackled, "Oh my, that is a spot of bother. You humans spend way too much time something that was always ours, never yours."

"You have no idea how wrong you are," Takato pointed out. Makuramon wagged his finger, "Not to worry. I'll take the Catalyst back and we shan't worry about this again. Toodaloo, little humans! Play nice with Pajiramon and Indramon!"

"But I'm not human," Takato said too late as Makuramon leapt backwards into the mist and faded away, leaving only Calumon's echoing screams of horror. Takato shouted and charged after them with Growlmon only to find Pajiramon in front of it, "You will not be pursuing them."

Frustrated that he was being ignored, Takato shouted, "Don't you guys get it!? We can help you!"

"We don't need your help!" Indramon roared, bringing his giant hoof crashing down on top of him. Takato stood in place - either frozen in fear or out of sheer bravery. But some would call it stupidity. Juri gasped averting her eyes to avoid seeing Takato get killed. But the sickening crunch she expected was replaced by a loud clang. When she looked again, she saw Growlmon had pushed him out of the way and was standing between him and Indramon. Leomon and Andromon finally joined into the fray, the lion charging in first, "You will not harm him!"

"Executing defense protocols. Priority One: Defend The Digimon Tamer!" Andromon added, a sword appearing where his hand was. The two large digimon paired off against either Pajiramon or Indramon, crossing blades and taking shots at each other in a frenzy of violence. It was like watching history repeat itself as the four battled each other. Only now, they were battle hardened digimon - not some kids who were in over their heads. This didn't stop Kazu from cheering excitedly, "YEAH! KICK HIS BUTT LEOMON! ANDROMON! SHOW 'EM HOW IT'S DONE!"

With each blow, the digimon would knock each other back. And on one of the bouts, Andromon struck Pajiramon so hard that she was thrown flying right their way. Juri and Kazu both froze, unable to move as Pajiramon caught herself before crashing into them. As soon as she corrected herself, she turned to face them, "Humans shouldn't get involved in this. Get out of our way!"

She raised her blade to attack, swinging it down as hard but was stopped by Leomon's blade, "They're just children! Get a hold of yourself! You're a Deva! A protector!"

"A protector of the Digital World!" Pajiramon pointed out, giving one good push to knock Leomon back. Still the lion stood his ground, refusing to give way for Pajiramon. He looked over his shoulder, at Kazu and herself. He must've noticed she was afraid because he smiled at her, "Don't worry. I won't let any harm come to you!"

He turned back towards Pajiramon, letting out a mighty roar and summoning the strength to push the Deva's blade back and giving himself the opening he needed to properly kick the Deva in the teeth, "You will not harm the digidestined. You may be a protector of the Digital World, but I am a protector to all. And I will not let you choose who lives and who dies."

"Then you'll die yourself," Pajiramon charged in again, crossing blade with Leomon. As the fight continued, Juri noticed Takato and Growlmon were finally back in the fight. Growlmon spun around and used his tail to whip Indramon before he could get close, then leapt on him in a frenzy. But being at this close range just gave Indramon an unexpected advantage, "HORN OF DESOLATION!"

The horn on the horse's back rang out, making Juri's ears ring in protest. She covered her ears to drown out the noise, as did Leomon, Kazu, Takato, and Growlmon. It took them off guard just long enough for Pajiramon to get in a lucky strike, kicking Leomon to the ground and trampling over him. She gasped again in terror, watching helplessly as the sheep ground the lion with her hooves before galloping off to join Indramon.

Leomon was going to die here for protecting them. For protecting her. Maybe she should've stayed home. Maybe she shouldn't have been here. She wanted to help. But what was she supposed to do? She wasn't like Takato, or Rika, or Henry. She was powerless to do anything. If only...

If only she could be useful. Leomon must've sensed her uncertainty because he looked at her with a wide eyed smile, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Something heavy hit her pocket. Something warm. It calmed her down. At first, she thought she imagined it. Then she reached inside and found a digivice. Just like the one Takato had but with a yellow trim, "What?"

"Whoa! WHAT!? HOW COME YOU GET ONE!?" Kazu protested when he saw it. But she didn't pay any attention. She had a digivice. Was she meant to help? Was...Leomon supposed to be her partner? No. This was a mistake. It had to be. She didn't know anything about digimon. But this wasn't the time to freeze up and panic. This wasn't the time for self-doubt She reached into her pocket and produced the booster pack of cards she'd bought, ripping them open and looking for one that looked useful. But the cards were all gibberish to her and she had no idea what any of them did. Until she found one she'd seen them use before. If it worked for them, why wouldn't it work her? She readied the card and swiped it through the device, "Digimodify! Strength Boost Activate!"

Leomon leapt up back to his feet, raising his sword with a mighty roar, "YES! THIS ENERGY! I CAN FEEL IT! THANK YOU, JURI!"

Juri felt a small smile appear on her face, unable to deny the overwhelming joy she was feeling from helping Leomon out. She looked just ahead to see Andromon and Growlmon squaring off around Indramon and Pajiramon. It seemed that they were too evenly matched as it were. But now the cavalry was here. First, Pajiramon. The sheep Deva grunted when she noticed Leomon, "To think the great that you would throw your lot in with these disgusting humans. Where's your pride as a warrior?"

"A true warrior doesn't let pride interfere with his common sense," Leomon roared back, "My protection doesn't stop at the Digital World. I protect all life: weak and strong."

Pajiramon appeared unfazed and shook her head in disappointment, "They've killed our kind time and again, Leomon. Let's see your common sense rationalize that. Rargh!"

She charged forward again and the two of them clashed one more time. Realizing that his added strength wasn't enough, Juri began flipping through her cards again. It just didn't make any sense. Half of these cards had a bunch of rules and stats on them that she didn't understand. But her answer was right next o her, "Kazu! What do these cards do?"

"Huh?"

"Cards! I need one to help Leomon!"

She pushed some of the cards into his hand and watched him go through it. After a minute, he pulled one out, "Use this! It's training gears. If strengthens any digimon who uses them over time, but it restricts them at first."

"What?" Juri flat out said, unable to understand a word he'd just said. He groaned, "Just use it!"

She nodded, swiping the card, "Digimodify! Training Gear Activate!"

A set of elastic bands appeared on Leomon's arms which he promptly threw at Pajiramon, wrapping them around her legs and imprisoning her. Leomon cheered, "Well done Juri! Now let's finish this!"

He charged forward one more time, leaping into the air with his sword raised above his head and brought it crashing down on top of Pajiramon's skull. The sickening crunch made Juri's stomach turn and she looked away as Leomon ended it, "Fist of the Beast King!"

She really hoped Takato didn’t see that. Especially not the part where the data of the defeated digimon began to coalesce around Leomon until he absorbed it. But now things were going their way. It was three on one now. They could do this! Then it was on to save Calumon! She pointed at Indramon, “Help Growlmon!”

Leomon leapt into the air with his sword above his head, and was knocked aside by Indramon’s massive hoof, “Pitiful.”

Andromon armed his canon and fired at Growlmon, “Gatling Attack!”

The bullets peppered Indramon who raised up his other hoof to defend himself. Growlmon so his opening and charged in also, tackling the massive horse from the side. Indramon just laughed, “Pitiful!”

Andromon primed the canon on his arm and took aim, “Gatling Attack!”

The bullets peppered Indramon, who raised another hoof to defend himself. Growlmon was his opening and tackled him from the side and the two grappled with each other until Indramon managed to turn Growlmon so that he’d take the brunt of the attack! Takato helped out in a panic, “Growlmon! No!”

Leomon got back up on his feet and leapt back at the digimon. Indramon answered by swinging his massive hoof so that he struck the lion in the side, “Do you think that would work? Now! Horn of Desolation!”

He retrieved the horn on his back and blew into it, unleashing a great noise that shook the world and made the pavement crack. Growlmon, Leomon, and Andromon were thrown around the park. Before the blast could get her, Takato dashed to Juri’s side and pushed her to the ground, “Watch out!”

They landed on the grass and away from the shockwave, which continued on and overturned a car. Juri gasped, “Nothing we do can touch it!”

“Juri, your cards!” Takato pointed at the ground beside her. Her cards had fallen out of her hand and scattered along the ground.It was then that she noticed he was on top of her, and she felt her face flush in embarrassment. Takato scrambled to his feet and helped her up, gathering the cards together and holding one up to her - a strange blue card with a pixelated dinosaur, “Where’d you get this?”

“It was probably in the booster pack I had,” she answered quietly, trying not to think about what just happened. Takato nodded and proceeded to take the card, “I hope you don’t mind if I use this. And I really hope it works. DigiModify! Activate!”

He swiped the card through his deck and a beam of light jumped from his digivice to Growlmon. The digimon let out a roar and transformed before their eyes - skin ripping off violently and reappearing elsewhere, “Growlmon! Digivolve to! WarGrowlmon!”

The digimon grew in size and now had a set of mechanical parts on his body - bladed arms, rocket launchers on his torso, a metal jaw and a long metal cord extending from his back. Indramon scoffed, “Digivolve all you want. It won’t help you! Horn of Desola-”

“Rargh!” WarGrowlmon flew in, the rockets on his back coming to life and propelling him forward into the horse. He dug both of his metal claws into the digimon’s chest and raised over his head, “You won’t hurt them again! Atomic Blaster!”

Two compartments on his chest armor opened up and fired an attack straight into the horse’s gut before he could respond. The attack hit its mark and the digimon let out a great roar before disappearing. As with Leomon, the data coalesced around WarGrowlmon until he absorbed it into his body. It was over. Now they just had to go after Calumon. Before any of them could take a step forward, a small ball of fire hit the ground in front of WarGrowlmon, “Badaboom!”

WarGrowlmon stopped in his tracks, as a familiar imp leapt in between them and the gate. Juri blurted out, “Impmon!?”

“Sup losers?” Impmon greeted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Juri and Leomon are partners! Can they stop Indramon before he closes the gate? Will they rescue Calumon? Can Yamaki regain control of his life as it spirals out of control? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in two weeks on August 2 at 5 PM CDT! If you loved it, let me know in the comments section! Don't forget to bookmark to keep up to date with the latest updates and to show support! That's all I have for now! Let's move on to previews for the next chapter:
> 
> "HENRY'S DOLL TALKED!" she screamed, moving Xiaochun behind her. His older brother looked from her to Terriermon and concluded, "It was probably a pull string."
> 
> "I don't have any pull strings. I'm completely real," Terriermon announced as he leapt out of his arms and onto the floor. Now it was his brother's turn to scream, "It moves! It's alive!"
> 
> "Well duh," Terriermon shrugged, "Moumantai!"
> 
> "Stop making it worse. You're freaking them out," Henry said to the little digimon who was now casually strolling up to them, "If they think I'm scary, then I think you might be the bravest in the bunch. You froze up against all those bigger digimon, but you never started freaking out like they did just because of me."


	22. Off To The Digital World

Takato stared down at the little imp, trying to puzzle out why he was here, "What are you doing? Are you helping them?"

The imp folded his arms, leering so hard at Takato that he could drill holes, "Don't be stupid. You kids think yo' so tough walkin' around with them digimon like pets, actin' like you own the world. Well forget that! I got made an offer and I took it. I'm just lookin' to see if any of you's guys want to take the offer too while ya' can. Any of ya interested?"

Leomon kept his hand on his sword, "And what is this offer?"

Impmon thumbed at the shrinking fog behind him, "Work for thos' guys and get as strong as ya want! All ya gotta do is do 'em a favor every now and again."

"Observation: It sounds like you want us to trade human partners for digimon partners," Andromon pointed out, making the imp's face shrink in embarrassment. He quickly stammered out, "No, it's different!"

"I don't think it is," Leomon added, looking back at Juri with a smile, "Besides, I like Juri as my partner. She's very brave."

That infuriated Impmon, "You really wanna be bossed around by a stinkin' human? What's the matta with you?"

Kazu pointed at himself, "Nobody listens to me, so I don't know what you're talking about. Takato can barely keep Guilmon from wandering off-"

"HEY!" Takato spat out.

"-and Leomon doesn't really need Juri to tell him what to do in a fight. He can manage himself," Kazu answered expertly, uncharacteristically demonstrating a level of knowledge he hadn't shown before. Then he pointed at Impmon, "If anyone here is getting bossed around, it sounds like it's you Impmon."

Impmon's mouth was practically on the floor with amazement at how quickly he was torn down. After a moment's silence, he extended his middle most finger at all of them and snapped, "Y'know what, forget all of you! This is what I get for tryin' ta help you out! You all can suck it! You losas can hang out in the human world if you want. I'm goin back ta the Digital World to get me some rewards. Laters!"

He stuck his tongue out at them and leapt backwards into the fog, disappearing with it. There was a moment of stunned silence before any of them realized what happened. Then Takato sank to his knees and punched the ground, "DAMMIT!"

"Dude!"

"Tamer?"

"Are you alright?" Juri turned to him. His knuckles were bloody from hitting the ground so hard. She took a step forward to try and calm him down but he looked up at her when she was just an inch away. There was a cold anger there she hadn't seen before. It only lasted a moment before it was replaced by a determined look ahead, "This just got more complicated. We need to get Calumon back."

* * *

Rika, Kenta, and Henry arrived in time to see Takato punching the ground in anger, while Leomon and Andromon tried to calm him down. Juri and Kazu looked on anxiously. Both tamers looked at each other anxiously, unsure of what exactly they'd missed. Rika's shoulders slumped as she realized, "We're too late."

Henry tapped Kazu's shoulder, "What did we miss?"

"Some monkey digimon showed up and took Calumon!" Kazu explained, sounding like he was just as lost as they were, "Juri and Leomon beat Pajiramon, then Growlmon digivolved to WarGrowlmon and they beat Indramon! We tried to go through the gate but then Impmon showed up and...well..."

"Juri and Leomon beat Pajiramon?" Rika looked from the girl with the sock puppet to the tall lion warrior. She wanted to be surprised, but nothing surprised her anymore when it came to Juri. Especially since she had figured out what was wrong before she had. Without realizing it, she was smiling from ear to ear, "Good job Juri."

"Oh, thanks," the girl's face turned a bright shade of red and she looked away. Terriermon's ears sprang up, "It looks like we've got a new human-digimon team, huh? Welcome to the club. We've already got the mean one, the annoying one, and the cautious one. You can be the nice one."

"Okay, I get Rika's the mean one. Who's annoying and who's cautious?" Henry asked. Rika scoffed and stamped on his foot in response. She turned her attention back towards Takato straightening himself out. He seemed to be shaking, but that didn't stop him from opening Andromon's arm, "We need to get that gate open as soon as possible. It's our only chance of getting to the Digital World and saving Calumon."

"Dude, alright! We're going to the Digital World!" Kazu called out excitedly. Juri was less ecstatic, "Is that a good idea? We barely beat Pajiramon and Indramon. You want to go where there's more of them?"

Takato was too busy fiddling around inside Andromon's arm to listen. His arms went so far in that it looked like he was armless past the shoulder. While he tinkered, he explained, "Those guys we had a hard time beating just got their hands on a power source that can digivolve them all the way to the next level! If we don't go after them now, they'll be unstoppable when they come back."

"Don't you mean if?" Renamon asked seriously. Takato shook his head, "No. _When_. If whatever they're up against now is so strong they needed Calumon, then there's a chance - however small - that it won't be enough. And they'll come back to run away from it. And whatever they're fighting will be right after them."

Kazu groaned, "Geez, always gotta be so dramatic. So when are we going?"

"If I work all night? Maybe tomorrow at the earliest. Couple of days at the least," Takato answered quickly, closing the panel once he was done, "I'll need to get home and borrow some tools from dad. Oh! And you'd better tell your parents if you plan on coming."

"What? Again? I'm not telling my parents," Kazu protested. Rika rolled her eyes and slapped the back of his head, "Weren't you paying attention back at my house? We don't know how long we'll be there! If we're going, we're telling our parents all about it."

Takato added quickly, "I'll let Kari know tomorrow. We should get our homework before go too. If you guys don't want to fall behind on school work, we'd better bring some with us. That goes for you too: Rika, Henry."

"We're about to go on a rescue mission to another world to save Calumon, and all you can think about is our homework," Henry pointed out. Rika blinked and pointed at Henry, "Didn't think you were the type to not like homework, mister was-too-scared-to-fight-digimon."

"Education's important. Not that you should listen to me. I wasn't very good at school. I'm still not. I just don't like having to sit there for so long and pay attention," Takato explained to them, managing to kill his own point int he process.

"Ain't that the truth," Kazu grumbled. Then Kenta reminded them, "I don't want to kill the mood, but shouldn't we scatter before those crazy guys with the guns show up? I mean, do we want to be shot at?"

"Yeah, you're right," Juri nodded in agreement, stopping only when she realized she had a new problem, "But um...where do I keep Leomon?"

"Maintenance tunnel with WarGrowlmon and Andromon," Takato answered, "This way guys! And don't forget to tell your families!"

Leomon crossed his arms, "No. Juri's my partner now. Wherever she goes, I go."

Takato patted the massive lion, "No offense Leomon, but you stick out like a sore thumb. How do you plan on going home with her?"

"If Juri doesn't mind, then under cover of darkness," Leomon pointed up towards the darkening sky and the setting sun. All eyes were on Juri now, sweating nervously and shaking anxiously. Takato stated, "It's your call Juri."

After a long silence, she nodded in agreement. Kazu groaned, "Man, I still can't believe she got a partner and I didn't."

* * *

Rika returned home to find some of her mom's friends were still there. Her doctor friend greeted with that same calm smile he'd shown her before, "So, how'd it go? Save the world for another day?"

"Something like that," she sat herself down at the table and took another bite of the cookies. Her mom sat across from her quietly. She hadn't seen her mother so sullen in a while. Not since...then it clicked, and a panicked exasperation had her looking around the room nervously, "Where's dad?"

"He left with that Yamaki guy. But we'll see him again. He promised," she replied sheepishly.

A long paused followed after that, both mother and daughter unsure of what to say to each other now. She was sure the doctor was planning on giving some advice that neither wanted until he stood up, "I'd better get going. I have a lot of work tomorrow and you two have a lot to discuss. Mimi, it was good to see you again. Ruki, it was a pleasure to meet you."

As soon as he left, the rest of her mom's friends started making their excuses to leave too. Her mom wasn't as warm or friendly in her goodbyes as she usually was - and her friends noticed. They were probably all thinking the same thing. She and her mom had a lot to talk about now. And that made her anxious since she didn't usually talk to her mom anyway.

The long pause continued after all her friends were gone. Then her mom started giggling to herself. Rika looked around the room, trying to see what had made her mother laugh but just saw the empty dining room. Maybe her mom had finally snapped? When her mom finally calmed down enough to look up at her, she choked out an apology, "Sorry, it's just...I was starting to worry that you and I would never have anything in common besides being girls."

She shouldn't have been surprised to hear that. Her mom had been trying for years to get closer to them despite the fact that she didn't think they had anything in common. More to the point, for someone who had been a former digidestined, it didn't make sense why she never once mentioned that she'd had a digimon partner before. Her mom finally calmed down from laughing, "I'm really happy for you and your partner. And she's beautiful too, just like you."

"Why did you never tell me? You know I like digimon," Rika drummed her fingers on the table - mostly because she wasn't sure how to respond to that kind of praise from her mother. Her mom looked at her, "I didn't think you'd believe me, Ruki...I mean Rika. Digimon as you know it has only ever been a game. Most people think that, despite everything that happened."

Her ears perked up at the sound of that nickname. Her mom hated that nickname. But she was using it now. Her mom added, "But the truth is, I didn't want our relationship to turn out like it did with my dad. After what happened to my mom, he became...overprotective of me. And it ended up pushing me away from him."

"I know. I found the original book. And read it," she replied matter of factly, now warming up to the idea that her mom was Mimi. More awesome, her mom had personally dealt the killing blow to one of the toughest bad guys out there. And that...was actually kinda cool now that she thought about it. Then she remembered all the time in the book when she'd lashed out at the goggle head. The same goggle head who was making her life miserable now, "So was the goggle head always that stupid or-"

Her mom began massaging her temple as she began, "Worse. The truth was he was always several steps ahead of everyone else. He would just never admit it. It was annoying. Although, after what's been happening, I think I prefer it when he knows what's going on. Even if he is a smug jerk about all of it. I've never admitted this but...I was happy to learn he was going to die. But when it finally happened, all I felt was sorry for Kari because she had to lose her brother three times."

She paused, "Sorry, we shouldn't be talking about this - it's too depressing. And just talking about that him annoys me.

"Believe me, mom. That goggle head annoys me too," Rika admitted. Both had a laugh at that. Aside from digimon, it seemed they both had another thing in common. A genuine dislike for that goggle wearing moron. She went on to add, "I mean, who wears goggles? It's like he's some dumb kid playing at being a pilot. Some days, I expect him to just run around with his arm out like a plane going whoosh."

Her mom started laughing, "You don't even know the half of it. You should've seen him when I was your age! He got hit by a bus, got up and ran away like it was nothing. Then he walked into Sora's apartment, you remember my designer friend, and then he jumped through her sliding door and off her balcony."

Rika couldn't help but burst out laughing as that mental image came into her mind. Some days she wished the goggle head would get hit by a bus. Then again, with his uncanny luck, he'd probably shake it off like it was nothing. Especially since the only thing that actually seemed to hurt him was that government thing that hurt digimon. She opened her eyes through the laughter and noticed her mom was laughing too. This was a familiar feeling - one she hadn't felt in a while. A shared joy of laughing gleefully with her mother. She didn't hate it either. She actually kinda liked it and wanted to laugh with her more often.

After the laughter died down, Rika looked at her mom with the smallest semblance of a smile on her face, "But for all the stuff in the books, there's a lot of stuff that wasn't in them. Or on the show. There's a lot of stuff I don't get. Like you were the girly girl and dad was the nerd. How did you two get together?"

Her mom's face lit up excitedly, "It all started when he accidentally called me the cute once. I'm sure he was thinking it but he'd never worked up the courage to say it. Until one day, a couple of digimon showed up demanding a kiss from the cute one. Izzy pointed out they probably meant me. That was when I first noticed him. But he didn't really stop being shy until high school. But that's a different story and you're too young for it. Plus he has this really cute look on his face when he gets really invested in something."

Rika turned away, sensing this conversation was about to turn mushy. Thankfully her mom stopped there, "I know it'll be dangerous for you, because I was in your shoes once. But promise me you won't do anything to get yourself in danger. And you and Renamon take care of each other, because it'll always be life and death."

Then her mom hugged her. Her gut instinct was to push away in her protest but she chose not to. She didn't hate the hug; it was more that she knew it would make her mom feel better to hold her just a little while longer. That is, until the hug started lasting a little too long and Rika began to feel like she was suffocating. That was when she pushed away, "Okay, okay. I'm fine mom. Geez."

"I just wanted to hug my little girl again, that's all. I didn't think I'd get to again since you started distancing yourself away from everyone," her mother stated cheerfully, trying to pull her back into the hug. This time, she resisted only because she didn't like how long the hugs were lasting and she was getting uncomfortable just thinking about it. It was only then that Rika added, "The digimon we fought got Calumon - The one they were after. Goggle head is fixing everything up so that we can go to the Digital World and get him back. He also thinks we'll figure what's going on along the way. The plan is to leave as soon as he has it fixed up. Which could be as early as tomorrow."

"Well, I guess I should get some food ready for you guys just in case," her mom said cheerily. Rika wondered just how much more cooking her mom had in her as she made her way into the kitchen to prepare some more food.

* * *

Henry walked into his apartment with Terriermon in his arms, and was met by a wailing Xiaochun screaming about how he was going to be mad at her. Their mom was trying to calm her down with no luck and she shot Henry a confused look, "What is your baby sister crying about?"

He racked his brain to think of answer quickly. He'd told dad everything about the digimon but not his mom. Where would he even start with this story? Judging by his mom's confusion, that meant Xiaochun had kept her promise to keep as much of this secret as possible. If anything, it was a rarity for him since he expected her to spill the moment things went south. But she hadn't. Which was a real credit to her. But now it was on him to explain. Before he could, though, his mom pointed at Terriermon and asked, "What is that doing back here? I thought we told you to give that doll back to whoever you stole it from."

"I'm not stolen from anything. Henry, maybe we should tell your mom since your dad already knows anyway?" Terriermon finally spoke up, opening his mouth at the worst possible time. The look on his mom's face would be priceless if it wasn't so scared. And it especially didn't help when she shrieked in a panic, making Xiaochun wail louder. Things only got worse now that his older brother dashed into the hallway, "What's wrong!?"

"HENRY'S DOLL TALKED!" she screamed, moving Xiaochun behind her. His older brother looked from her to Terriermon and concluded, "It was probably a pull string."

"I don't have any pull strings. I'm completely real," Terriermon announced as he leapt out of his arms and onto the floor. Now it was his brother's turn to scream, "It moves! It's alive!"

"Duh," Terriermon shrugged.

"Stop making it worse. You're freaking them out," Henry said to the little digimon who was now casually strolling up to them, "If they think I'm scary, then I think you might be the bravest in your whole family. You froze up against all those bigger digimon, but you never started freaking out like they did."

"It...talks...and walks...and it's alive," his brother stammered out words between gasps of panicked breath. Terriermon patted the boy's leg, "Good! We've got you stringing together phrases! Now let's get you saying complete sentences!"

"Be nice," Henry said to his partner more sternly, scooping him up before either his brother or mom hit him in a panic. Xiaochun finally calmed down from her crying enough to look at Terriermon and say, "Terriermon. You're not mad are you? I'm sorry I lost Calumon! I didn't mean to."

Terriermon patted the little girl's head, "Hey, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know what was going to happen. If anyone's angry, it's gotta be Henry since he's the stick in the mud."

"I'm not a stick in the mud," he snapped quickly, prompting Terriermon to laugh, "Thanks for proving my point! It's good to know that I can at least count on you for something."

"Henry, what is going on?" her mom finally managed to ask, pointing a finger at Terriermon accusingly while listing every question that must've come to mind, "How long has he been able to talk? What is it exactly? Why does it know your name? Why does Xiaochun know what it is? And how long has it been in our home? Did you let it in?"

Henry groaned, scratching his head and grumbling, "You really know how to make my life miserable, Terriermon. Mom, Rinchei, Jaarin. This is Terriermon. He's a digimon, and we're partners. Sort of like that game I always play but...real. We've been fighting those digimon attacks that've been happening on the news. All the stuff they keep saying are freak accidents or explosions. Well, that's been us."

"Henry, it's dangerous!" his mom said worriedly, standing up and pulling her slipper off her foot to use as a weapon, "You need to get rid of that thing now before it hurts someone."

"He's not dangerous mom," he stated matter-of-factly, "If he were any kind of trouble, he would've been one by now. Well, more serious than anything he is now."

"Hey!" Terriermon began to protest, but Henry was quick to shut that down, "We're in a mess right now because you couldn't keep your mouth shut. You don't get to complain."

"Well, I wouldn't have had to if you'd just tell them that I'm real and that we're going to the Digital World already. And that's taking forever too!"

"I was about to when you opened up your mouth," Henry countered quickly, looking apologetically at his mom and siblings, "Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner. It was kind of hard to have to explain."

"That's an understatement," Rinchei sighed, finally working up the courage to approach Terriermon. He stretched out his hand to pet the little guy on the head and added, "I mean...once you get past the fact that he's a walking, talking, creature with enough power to level our home, he's actually kinda cute."

"I'm adorable," Terriermon said proudly. Xiaochun happily added, "Isn't he? That's why I put him in the pretty dress. So that he can be one hundred percent cuter!"

"Please don't do that anymore," Terriermon added quickly, turning his head to Henry as if he were trying to plead for help. At that exact moment, his dad came back home, "I couldn't find him Xiaochun but...oh, Henry."

"We know all about it dad. We, um...have a lot to talk about," Henry said. Now it was his dad's turn to get in trouble, because his mom gasped out, "You know about all this, Zhenyu?"

"Don't tell me you told them?" his dad looked at him for some kind of out, only to have Terriermon answer, "I did. You guys were taking a long time to get all this out in the open. He probably would've waited to tell you guys until we were in the Digital World."

"Go where!?" his dad blurted out. His mom was on his dad before he could be pressed further, "Don't change the subject, Zhenyu! Did you know?"

"I might have," his dad admittedly sheepishly, and promptly had his ear pulled by his mom, "How dare you keep this a secret? What would you have done if anything happened to them?"

"Are we not going to talk about Jenrya going to another world?" his sister Jaarin asked quietly from behind the couch. This was going to be a very long night and Henry would have a lot to explain, "Look, there's a lot to talk about. Can we talk about it after we're done with dinner?"

"Finally, someone said it," Terriermon groaned out, "I'm hungry."

* * *

It was late when Takato finally returned home through front of the bakery, "I'm home!"

Yoshie Matsuda looked up from the dough she was busy preparing for the next day and called out, "Welcome back. It's late. Where were you, Takato?"

"Oh, y'know. Out," he answered quietly. She eyed him suspiciously, knowing he'd developed a penchant for making trouble ever since he'd run off a year ago. He worried them sick, especially when he turned up in raggedy clothes in the back of the concert. She wiped her hands on her apron and went to give him a hug, "Well, wash up and go eat dinner. We can talk later."

"Actually, can we talk now?" he asked innocently. It was odd for him to ask permission for anything. Usually, he'd just run off and do whatever. Probably with Juri. She noted that the two of them seemed to be spending a lot of time together. Maybe he was finally starting to notice girls. The thought of that made her feel old, but she also felt a little excited about the prospect of Takato wanting advice on how to talk to girls, "Sure, what is it?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Where's…dad?"

"Upstairs washing dishes," she answered, "What is it, sweetie?"

"Nothing…just thought I should talk to both of you," he answered glumly. Anxious to start giving out dating advice, she ushered Takato upstairs to the kitchen above the bakery, "Honey! Takato wants to talk to us."

"Is it about Juri? Need advice from the old man, huh?" he perked up excitedly, head poking out of the kitchen with the biggest smile. Takato immediately jumped in surprise, "What? No! Why would you…it's not about Juri. Why would I even…wait, did you guys think that we're…no, wait. Sorry, getting off topic. That's not it. It's something else."

Now Yoshie was confused and looked at her husband Takehiro for some kind of clue. Without another word, he guided them over to the kitchen table and sat them down. He assumed a seat on the other side of the table and stared at his hands quietly for a second. The longer he was quiet, the more worried she became, "What is it, Takato?"

"I'm just…trying to figure out how to explain this," he began, and her mind assumed the worst. Trouble at school? Trouble with the police? Bullies? What was it? After a moment, he finally began, "I wanted to thank you guys for everything. Literally. This…has been one of the nicest times in my life and I don't think I've ever had something like that before. But I need to come clean about something."

Every bit of that sounded confusing to her, and she looked to her husband again. He looked back with an equally lost expression. After another pause marked by the ticking of the clock on the wall, Takato explained, "I'm not your son. I'm not Takato Matsuda. I probably look and sound like him. But I'm not him. It's just…a big mix up. And I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. But…after you guys helped me, I didn't have the heart to break the news to you."

Was this a joke? A sick, twisted mistake that she was playing on his parents? That was cruel, even by his usual standard of pranks. She was about to scold him when he snapped his fingers and a golden energy began to emanate from it. He explained, "The truth is I'm…not like you. I'm…well, digital. Like the monsters that have been popping up on the news."

Then he produced a device from his pocket and set it on the table. It was small, consisting of a broken screen, a few buttons, and was covered in a fine layer of dirt and scratches. He tapped it a few times, "Sorry, it's old and broken so it doesn't quite work properly but it…should…here."

A projection of a teenaged boy appeared above the device, spinning in place as he quietly stood there. He wore a dark sweater and pants under a long blue hooded coat marked by yellow stripes and goggles on his head. But the most remarkable feature was his fiery brown hair. Takato explained, "Before I looked like…this, I looked like him. That was me…about a year ago. Give or take."

There was a lot to take in. A lot of information to process. Yoshie began massaging her temples as she tried to make sense of this. If this was a prank, it was Takato's most complex one to date. Then he went on, "There's a lot to talk about so let me know if you need me to explain anything or make sense of something."

She looked at him quietly, trying to make sense of what she just saw. This was all too much. But there was no way he was making this up. It was too complex for a kid his age to pull off. He had to be telling the truth, "If you're not our son, then where is he?"

"I don't know."

The answer hit her like a truck. She sank into her chair and her husband put a hand on her shoulder to keep her calm, "Yoshie! Look, I don't know what your game here is Takato, but it's not funny."

"It's no game. I'm not Takato," he gestured at the spinning projection, "But I think I might know where your son is. And I'll need your help to find him."

She looked up at the news and asked, "Where is he?"

"In my world. The Digital World. But to go there, I need to fix this," he gestured at the device on the table. It sparked at that moment and the projection vanished. He groaned, "I hate when it does that."

She looked down the at the device on the table, then to Takehiro. He still didn't seem to believe this, but he looked at Takato, "What do you need?"

"Could I borrow your tool kit?"

* * *

Juri sat at the dinner table with the rest of her family, swirling her food around quietly with her fork while the rest of her family ate. Her father had finished eating and was now reading the paper while quietly drinking coffee, looking up briefly to look at her, "Eat your food, Juri. You're a growing girl."

"I'm...not very hungry," she replied quietly, taking a small bite but having the hardest time chewing or swallowing. She had to tell her family - tell them that she was going to the Digital World. But every time she tried to work up the courage, a voice in the back of her head would shout out to not bother. Why would they worry? It wasn't like she was close to her step-mom. And her dad wasn't the easiest person to get along with. Not to mention her half-brother was only three - she'd been friendly and playful with him but she wouldn't consider them close. In fact, he probably wouldn't even register if she was gone.

Her father set his paper down and looked at her, "What's on your mind, Juri?"

"Nothing," she replied quietly, trying to avoid eye contact with him. He'd always been intimidating to look out with that perpetual frown on his face not making it any easier to look at him. He sighed, "Juri, you've been acting odd lately. You spend all your time in your room when you're home, if you're not sneaking out. Not to mention you've been staying out late a lot lately. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, dad."

He returned to his paper, "Fine. Don't tell me. But you're not excused from the table until you put half that plate of food away."

She nodded, forcing herself to scarf down as much of the food as possible so that she could go up to her room. Besides, Leomon was probably hungry too. He'd been hiding out in the bushes behind their garden but climbed up onto the roof once it was dark enough. Once she'd finished enough of the plate to be dismissed, she took her untouched glass of orange juice and announced, "I'll be in my room."

Her father gave a disapproving nod and she hurried upstairs before her step mom could say anything. Once the door was locked behind her, she opened up her window and let in a blast of cool night air. Leomon appeared from the top of the window, peering down with a small smile on his face, "How did it go?"

"I couldn't tell them," she admitted to him. She had no idea why it was so much easier to admit things to him than it was to admit things to her own parents. The disapproving look he gave her reminded her too much of her father too, "Juri, you need to tell them before you go. They are your family after all."

Family. They were her family. But they didn't feel like family - more like people she had to share a living space with. He furrowed his brow and knew she was in for some kind of talk. Hoping to change the subject, she pushed the glass of orange juice his way and said, "I thought you might be thirsty so I brought this for you. I can get you some dinner later if you want. I just have to wait for my parents to go to sleep first."

"Thank you," he smiled, taking the glass and guzzling it down like he hadn't seen any before. He wiped his mouth with his arm and smiled at her, "I saw you didn't eat dinner yourself. Is something the matter? I'd say it must be nerves - even the greatest of warriors lose their steel. But it can't be that. From what the Tamer said, you've been doing this for a while. It must be something else. Is it to do with your family?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Juri replied sheepishly. Leomon handed the glass back to her, seemingly contemplative for a moment before finally replying, "Have you ever thought to help yourself?"

That question startled her, mostly because she had no idea what to make of it and looked up at him in confusion. He sighed and lowered himself further so that she could see him more clearly. It was still an odd sight to behold, watching him dangle by his arms from the roof. He went on, "I suppose not. You were just like the Digimon Tamer a long time ago."

"How was that?" she watched the lion's face curl in disappointment. His explanation didn't do anything to make her feel better, "He has…a complicated history. One that left with him a lot of…let's call it issues. Issues he never properly dealt with. He was usually more interested in helping people. He became known as a hero in the Digital World. But there was always something…off with him. Like he was driven by something other than a desire to do good. And it wasn't until the arrival of the digidestined that we learned how this affected him. He'd gone so long helping others that he'd never once helped himself. He sat on his grief, his…rage, for so long that when he reached its tipping point…"

Leomon paused again, his eyes going downward. Juri could already tell where this was going and could only imagine what he was going to say next about Takato. When he finally looked at her again, "It made a monster - one that could end all life as we knew it if it wanted. It wasn't until he was forced to face it, that he realized how long he'd let it go untreated. Like a wound festering. I just want to be sure that doesn't happen to you Juri. You're a good person. And I will be here for you if you need me. You helped me earlier today. I'd like to help you."

Juri smiled at her partner, feeling at ease with him in a way she didn't usually feel. The lion finally managed a smile back, "I…just can't talk to them. That's all."

"Why not?" Leomon asked. This was so weird for her. She felt downright silly talking to Leomon about her problems. When she finally worked up the courage to look up at the lion, she explained, "I…haven't really felt close to anyone in my family since mom died."

"But your mother is downstairs," Leomon pointed out, "I saw her feeding your younger brother."

"That's not my real mom. She's my step-mom," Juri said, realizing how silly she sounded now that she was saying it out loud. Leomon's smile disappeared when he heard that and he sighed, "She is still your mother, Juri."

"No, she's not," Juri spat out quickly, "She's..."

She wasn't sure what to say next. What was her step mom to her? Not a stranger - they talked to each other. But it was always little stuff. They weren't close in any way. Acquaintances? What was it? She sighed, "I don't know."

"Juri, you can't block her or your family out of your life," Leomon said to her, "Take it from me: life can be taken away so quickly. The last thing you want is to live it alone. You should talk to her. You may find you have a lot in common."

"I don't want to," she replied quietly. Leomon put out a hand on her head, "Want to or not, you have to. They're your family. They deserve to know. I understand that you're scared. I don't understand why, and I'm not sure even you know why. But the bravest thing to do, would be to tell them anyway."

Her eyes looked downward. He was right. She had to. When she was finally able to move her eyes upward, he offered her a smile. He patted her head and explained, "Don't worry. I'll be beside you. If you want to tell them together, then take them out to the garden. We can do this together."

She nodded, "Thank you Leomon."

"I'll see you downstairs, partner," he nodded, climbing back up onto the roof. She smiled. Now came the hard part. For some reason, though, knowing Leomon would be there beside her made it all the easier to do. Her confidence surged as she went back downstairs.

* * *

Several more days passed after they told their parents with Takato conspicuously absent from class. They waited anxiously until the day Takato told them they were ready to go. Then it was just a matter of packing their things. Kari dismissed her class and watched Juri, Kazu, and Kenta come towards her desk. Their bags were more stuffed than usual and they'd each brought an extra duffle with extra clothes and camping gear. At least they'd be prepared - unlike herself of the digidestined were the first time they went. It was hard to miss how excited they were too, something she wished she could share, "Are you all ready?"

"Yep," they all said together. It was still odd to process - before she was the kid going off to the Digital World. Now she was the adult sending off kids on anther dangerous adventure. This must've been how her mother felt years ago when she was a kid. If so, it would explain why she was worried sick. It was definitely an odd feeling to be passing the torch like this. She offered them a smile and gathered her things, "Okay. I'll walk you kids to the park. I want to make sure you get there safe before we go."

"Thanks Miss...um, so should we still be calling you Miss Asaji or can we call you Miss Kamiya?" Kenta asked innocently. It was an odd question and Kari wasn't sure she had an answer for it. She just shrugged it off, "Just call me whatever makes you comfortable."

"Then can I call you Kari?" Kazu asked. For some reason, that really upset her and she promptly smacked his head with her day planner, "You still have to call me Miss. With your behavior, we are not on a first name basis."

"Ouch," Henry commented as he walked into the room, "I'd ask what happened, but it's Kazu so it's weird if he's not getting hit by Rika. Or any other female."

"You made sure to tell your families, right?" Kari asked all of them now that they were here. They all nodded. Of course, whether or not they had would be a different story entirely. Still, she could make their life miserable if they hadn't. She then promptly took out several packets of paper to hand out to them, "Good. These are your homework assignments for your trip. I don't know when you'll be back so I put your assignments for the next month in there. I don't want any of you to fall behind, do you understand? Especially you Kazu!"

"Yes," they all moaned.

She nodded, "Okay, let's go."

She felt a wave of anxiety as they made their way to the park. Still, that didn't deter Kazu or Kenta from being incredibly excited for the chance to go to the Digital World for themselves. They talked animatedly and bounced up and down with every step they took until they reached the park, where they found Mimi and her daughter beside her yellow fox partner. Takato was there too, along with his parents who were minding their distance from the three digimon with him: Andromon, Leomon, and a strange red dinosaur. She stopped at the sight of the familiar faces, amazed to see them again. Especially Leomon, "Leomon?"

The lion looked up at the sound of his name and waved his hand. Takato saw this and followed suit, walking over as he wiped his dirty hands on a rag, "Hey guys! Are you all set?"

"You bet!" Kazu answered excitedly, running ahead to inspect the open panel on Andromon's arm. She looked around and noticed the others hadn't quite arrived yet, and frowned. Maybe they were running late? It was a work day, after all. Then she noticed the smile on Takato's face, a stupid dumb smile that she'd only ever see him wear when he knew something but wasn't saying it. She frowned, "What is it, Tak…Tamer?"

"Just thinking about the last time this happened. It's nice that everyone's getting a proper good bye and everyone's packed up," he grinned.

She nodded in silent agreement, wondering where all the time had gone. Vanished apparently, because she'd never considered how little her world made sense until Takato pointed it out. She couldn't even look at her calendar anymore without seeing the year flashing between different dates. Then Takato added, "So when are you going to have kids? You're great with them already. I'm guessing things didn't work out with…um…hat guy…Takeru!"

"What?" she blinked in surprise, embarrassed by the question. Did her brother think that she and TK were a thing? And not Davis? Even though he was the one she dated.

"Are you kidding? She'd probably give the poor kid a hundred assignments a day!" Kazu complained. Once again, Kari smacked the top of his head with her day planner, "I think all that hair gel you use on your head is leaking into your brain Kazu. You'd better go and clean it out before you go."

"Why does everyone hit me?" Kazu complained. Takato patted his shoulder, "Don't worry. If anything goes wrong, we can use you like a decoy to protect our digimon."

"Gee thanks," Kazu complained. As hesitant as Kari was about sending them off, she knew she couldn't post pone it forever. They had to go. With a reluctant groan, she tapped her brother, "We'd better hurry if we don't want to be late. Lead the way Taka...Tamer...this is still taking some getting used to."

"Tell me about it," he replied, lifting up one leg, "The new legs are nice but they just can't jump as high as the old ones could. They don't run as fast either. Alright, let's go!"

She looked down at his legs, wondering just what went through his head most days. They were about to embark on a mission to the Digital World and he was commenting about his legs. Then again, he had a completely different face the last time she saw him. It wasn't long before the others arrived - little by little until everyone was here. One of them was an odd man with a little girl she didn't recognize, but they had Terriermon with them that the girl cuddled like a doll. The moment they were in view of the others, the digimon hopped out of her arms and ran to Henry, "Finally. Let's go already!"

"Bye-bye Terriermon," the little girl said sadly. Going by appearances and the fact Terriermon was with them, she figured they must've been Henry's family. Likely his dad and sister. Kari was happy to see each of them come, but Takato was less thrilled, "Hello everyone! Come to see us off? Or are you just here to hit me again?"

"Contemplating it," Matt answered dryly, earning an elbow from his wife and an admonishing look. She greeted them more warmly, "We wanted to see you guys off before you left for the Digital World and make sure you were all going to be okay."

"This wasn't my idea. It was mom's," Rika added quickly, turning her head to avoid having to look at the adults. In the presence of her mother and the other digidestined, Rika's tough attitude made her look all the smaller and childish. Her mom was holding several wrapped lunch boxes which she pressed into each of their arms, "These are for you guys so you don't starve while you're there."

"Thanks!" Kazu and Kenta said excitedly, stowing their lunches away. Kari had to admit she was a little envious of them receiving Mimi's home cooking. She'd become a surprisingly good cook in her own and she could still smell some of it from where she was. Then it was Joe's turn, handing them a small duffel bag, "I have some medical supplies set up for you in case you need it. I hope you won't but…this is the Digital World after all."

Henry took the bag and slung it over his shoulder, "You guys thought of everything."

"Just the stuff we wished we had when this happened to us," Joe answered with a smile, "The important thing for you guys is to remember to stick together, no matter what happens. Hm? Is that Leomon?"

He pointed out the lion digimon now with his arms crossed. Upon noting the adults, he waved, "Hello humans."

"Leomon! It's us! The digidestined!" Mimi explained. The lion raised an eyebrow, looking over to Andromon who took one good look at all them, the smallest of smiles drawing his face, "Identity scan software confirms identities. Digidestined. It is a pleasure to see you again."

That was all Leomon needed to put a hand over his chest and sink to one knee with a bow, "Then it is an honor to meet you, Digidestined. Please forgive my rudeness."

"Um. What's happening?" Mimi asked the others.

"Leomon, you don't have to bow," Matt told the lion digimon, trying to get him to stand back up. The lion refused though, staying where he was, "No. I should apologize. I am not the Leomon you knew. I am...well, you used to know me as Koromon...and then I was an Agumon. Now I'm a Leomon."

Kari looked from Leomon to Takato, genuinely confused as Takato flicked the lion on the nose to get his attention and pull him back up. Takato explained, "Believe me, it makes no sense to me either. Leomon isn't even in the Agumon line of digivolution! Anyway, this is what I spent all night on. Guys...this is our ticket to the Digital World."

Although he was standing, the lion still kept a hand over his heart, "The Tamer is correct. I am Leomon, but not the one you travelled with. All the same, it is an honor to meet you."

Kari felt her heart sink a little, recalling how Wizardmon reformatted without his memories and wondering if the same was true here. Then she noticed the red dinosaur sniffing her. It pressed it's snout against her and took a big whiff, "Friend?"

"Guilmon! Down boy," Takato pulled the red dinosaur back but he still tried to sniff her, "She smells familiar."

"She does?"

"I do?" Kari repeated, trying to recall when she would've met this strange red digimon that was now in her face. It took another whiff before asking, "You smell like cat. Do you have a cat?"

"I did," Kari answered with a small frown. He turned his head and proceeded on to smelling the others. As he made his way around to the others, entering their personal space and sniffing them closely, Kari asked, "Is…is that Agumon?"

Takato raised an eyebrow at the question, "That name sounds familiar…should I know who that is?"

"You don't remember?" Kari asked. Takato scratched his head, "I wish I could My head is still all fuzzy honestly. It's coming back a little bit at a time. It's just…taking longer than expected."

Kari wanted to say something, to explain to him who Agumon was. But then she wondered if this was like Wizardmon. The new face meant no memories of his old life. But he seemed to remember her. That had to mean his memories were still in there, right? Or was this him playing dumb?

"HEY!"

"Dad?" Rika gasped out. Kari looked over her shoulder to see Izzy moving his wheelchair towards them with that Yamaki guy just a few feet behind him. Rika and Mimi were quick to join him, helping to push him along, "Thanks, hon."

"I thought we weren't going to see you again for a while," Rika suggested. Izzy held his wife's hand gently before answering, "Your mom told me everything. I wanted to see you off. You're going to have a lot of fun when you get there, but be safe."

"Oh...thanks," she answered quietly, keeping her back to the others. Going off Mimi and Izzy's face, she probably had the biggest grin on it right now and just wanted to hide it. But that didn't address the question of why Yamaki of all people was here. He stepped forward and cleared his throat to get their attention, "If the sentimentalities are done, maybe it's time you guys get going."

"Don't rush this!" Mimi scolded him, "Our family hasn't been together in a while because of you!"

Yamaki took a step back from the family - giving them some space. Izzy mouthed something at him before reaching into a bag he had hanging off the back of his wheel chair, "This is...um...where is it? Oh! Here!"

He produced an old D-Terminal from his bag - one of the old communication devices they'd used on their adventure and passed it to his daughter, "This was how we messaged each other whenever we were in the Digital World. It'll work anywhere and it'll never lose signal. Message us every night so that we know your safe."

"Whoa! COOL!" Kenta said, peering over Rika's shoulder to get a better look at the device. Annoyed at his sudden intrusion, she promptly stepped on his foot, "Read the mood, jerk."

"Ow!" Kenta yelped, hopping backwards on his one foot. Yamaki sighed and stepped forward again, "I was going to wait but he's already ruined the mood anyway. I wanted to give you something too."

He held out a strange looking device - something that looked like a mad scientist's attempt at a cellphone. Naturally, Ruki, Mimi, and Izumi were hesitant to accept it. Unsurprisingly, Takato was more than content to pick it up for himself and examine it in his hand, "Oh, cool! What is it? Some kind…geolocation device but…hmm, these transmitters are inter-dimensional. Like the ones from the D-Terminals or the digivices. Dizzy! You clever genius."

"What makes you think I made it?" Izzy raised up his hands in defense. Yamaki smiled, "Don't think I'm just another government lackey because I have shades and a gun. There's a reason I'm the director of this organization. I wouldn't be if I didn't understand how this works. Or at least, had an idea of how it works. Reverse engineered from Izumi's personal device. It won't open gates, but it will let us know where you are at any given time. Which is good, so we know where to send the extraction teams when you come back."

Takato looked up at him, a surprised look on his face. He almost never seemed surprised, and his next choice words earned him more than a few scoffs from the others, "A human figured it out. A human who has no experience with Ancient technology. When this is all done, we have got to hang out some time. Wait, no. Focus! How do we know you're not going to shoot us on sight when we get from the Digital World?"

Yamaki paused, and she could tell his gaze was fixated on Takato. Then he removed his shades. The look on his face was so much softer - kinder even than what his shades hid. If he wasn't so much of a jerk, she probably would've called him handsome. Then he smiled - something that seemed very out of place, "You won't know. I guess you're going to have to trust me. Like how I'm putting a lot of trust into you by handing over equipment that officially doesn't exist, as well as coming out to meet you. But…right now, I'm more interested in protecting the world than I am in listening to my boss. You kids have been doing a lot better than we ever have. Maybe it's time we let you take the lead on this."

"Thanks," Takato nodded, putting the device in his back pocket. He turned back to the rest of the group, "Okay, it's about time. Let's go open our gate!"

"Gate?" Yamaki repeated curiously, following along just behind them as they ventured further into the park. Once they were far enough in, Takato began to fiddle with the inside of Andromon's arm. As they watched, Izzy asked "How are you going to open a gate?"

Takato snapped his fingers, and adjusted the panel of Andromon's arm so they could see, "Right here. Andromon retrofitted some Ancient Tech to force open a gate between worlds. I fixed it so it'd be more accurate and controlled. Instead of randomly jumping around like a pogo-stick, we'll go exactly where we need to. To the Digital World."

Mrs. Matsuda asked quietly, "So…this is it, huh? You're going now?"

Takato paused, looking up from his work to offer her an apologetic look, "Yeah...I'll...thanks for everything for the last year. We'll...try and find him for you."

Kari looked between Takato and his parents, unsure of what exactly they were talking about. Then she looked to the rest of the new team. Six kids and five digimon ready to go see the Digital World.

She felt a small feeling of helplessness, watching them go off like this to another world. Something that she and the others had done countless times before, but now couldn't. Only this time, Takato…no, Tamer was taking the lead. He looked over his shoulder at them, "We'll be back as soon as we can. With any luck, we'll find Takeru, find the other digimon, figure out what's going on, rescue Calumon, and be back before you know it."

"Be safe," Mimi called out anxiously, looking at her daughter with the saddest smile. Rika only gave her a nod, obviously still not comfortable with the whole being openly affection thing. Henry's dad added, "Henry, come back soon."

"We will dad," Henry nodded. Takato then connected his digivice to Andromon's arm, watching a small soft light started to glow. He looked back at them one more time, gave them a thumbs up and shouted, "Everyone. Keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. The sensation of nausea and confusion is normal. Here we go! Digiport Open!"

A surge of light surrounded the kids, blinding the rest of them briefly. Once the light faded and Kari could see properly, she saw they were gone. Her chest felt empty, hollow. She wasn't sure she would ever get used to this feeling - the idea that someone else was now holding the fate of the world in their hands. No sooner did they leave, she heard each of their D-Terminals beep. She picked it out of her coat pocket, noticing the others doing the same. Sora read it aloud, "It's from Ruki. She says ' _We made it and we're all okay. We'll message you more later_ '."

"So far so good," Henry's dad sighed, getting ready to leave until another message beeped on their screens. This time Mimi read it, "It's from Ruki again. ' _Resting_ _for the night. We got separated in sand storm. Kazu and Kenta are with me and Renamon. Going to try and find the others in the morning'_."

"Wait, they got separated?" Izzy panicked, "Are they okay?"

"I'm messaging them now," Mimi answered, typing into her D-Terminal furiously. She'd barely managed to get the first words in when another messaged beeped on the screen, "Another one from Ruki. _'Just had breakfast. We're heading out now. Going to find Takato, Guilmon, Henry, Terriermon, Juri, and Leomon'_."

"Please, stop reading," Takato's mom gasped out, looking ready to break down as the depressing messages continued to come in. It seemed her brother was right - time had been convoluted in the Digital World. There was no telling what was going on over there. Her mind raced with panic as she realized that they might've been in over their heads. Davis grunted, "Man, I hate this. There's gotta be something we can do to stop them!"

Yamaki stepped forward and sighed, "I can think of one thing. But I don't think you're going to like it."

"And what's that?" Davis asked. Yamaki gestured, "You can come with me to headquarters. We've got work to do if we're going to help those kids."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The children are off to save Calumon! But what happened to them in the Digital World? What can the others do to help? Where are the two groups headed? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out in two weeks on Friday August 16th at 5 PM CDT. I'm sorry the next chapter is going to be delayed but I need the extra time to catch up on some work stuff that I've fallen behind in! Let me know what you guys think in the comments section: thoughts, constructive criticism, and the like. And hey, if you want to see what I got in store for next time, click bookmark to stay up to date with the latest updates. And don't forget to kudo the story to show support. That's all I have for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> As soon as she said that, they all found themselves flying towards the ground at break neck speed. And as quickly as it started, it subsided as they gently rolled into a mound of sand in the desert. Rough, coarse sand blowing straight into their clothes and battering their face as it struck them. Then the wind died down and they were able to gather their bearings.
> 
> Juri dusted herself off, coughing as she tried to get sand out of her mouth and asked, "Is it always like that?"
> 
> "Only when you're crossing the boundary between worlds," Takato answered, poking his head out of the sand and trying to clear it out of himself. Rika scoffed, "So all the time is what you're saying."
> 
> He clicked his tongue, "I didn't say that at all. Ah! Home sweet home! It's a lot dustier than I remember. Andromon, how long was I gone for?"


	23. Visitors Not Welcome

 

Everyone screamed as they felt themselves pulled down, up, back and forth in an endless void of swirling colors and blinding lights. A few times, it felt like they were drowning in water. Other times, it felt like they were suffocating from air. And sometimes, it just felt like standing on solid ground. Through it all, Kazu screamed, "What the hell is going on!?"

"Language!"

"Really Henry?"

"I'll do what the hell I want! You're not my mother!" he spat out.

"Where even are we?" Rika shouted out.

"The space between worlds!" Takato's voice rang out in the endless voice, "This gate is a little sloppier than my usual ones. Give it time! It'll get better. Probably. We should land whenever we get there."

"Land where? All I see is bright lights!" Terriermon shouted back.

"Maybe there?" Juri pointed at what looked like a floating piece of land. As soon as she said that, they all found themselves flying towards the ground at break neck speed. Or falling. The perspective was just plain messy at this point. And as quickly as it started, it subsided as they gently rolled into a mound of sand in the desert. Rough, coarse sand blowing straight into their clothes and battering their face as it struck them. Then the wind died down and they were able to gather their bearings.

Juri dusted herself off, coughing as she tried to get sand out of her mouth, "Is it always like that? If it is, then I don't want to do it anymore."

"Only when you're crossing the boundary between worlds," Takato answered, poking his head out of the sand and trying to clear it out of his hair to little success . Rika scoffed, "So all the time is what you're saying."

He clicked his tongue, "I didn't say that at all. Ah! Home sweet home! It's a lot dustier than I remember. Andromon, how long was I gone for?"

Andromon spun his limbs and his neck to remove the sand from his joints, whirring and beeping grotesquely. Once he finished, he scanned around the desert, "Information: The Digimon Tamer's last recorded sighting in the Digital World was...Error. Time dilations detected, unable to verify passage of time since last sighting."

"Oh that's bad. That is very bad," Takato frowned, retrieving his digivice from his pocket to examine it carefully, "Okay, better be quick then. We don't want to spend too much time here."

"Hold up! What was that about time…dials…whatever?" Kazu asked quickly. Takato put a hand over his eyes to block the sun and started scanning the horizon, ignoring Kazu's question. Kazu called again, "Takato?"

"I thought I already explained this Kazu. Time's become convoluted," Takato answered back, "We may have been here for about a minute, but that doesn't mean time is flowing the same back in the human world. Days, weeks, months, years could've passed. And we're a few days behind Makuramon in that world. Who knows how far behind we are here! Or how far ahead we are! We could be here before Makuramon arrives, which gives us an advantage but it's not like we know which is which."

"Okay, that hurt my head," Leomon grumbled. Frustrated, Terriermon shouted, "Are we going to just sit here and talk about this or are we going to go find Calumon already? This heat is killing me and I don't like sitting around here doing nothing!"

"Terriermon's right. We should get moving," Henry agreed solemnly, wiping his brow, "The sooner we get out of this heat, the better. Where to first?"

"If I had to guess, that would be a good place to start," Rika pointed off into the distance. Somehow, in the confusion of their arrival, they all missed a giant glowing orb of light over the horizon. It was almost like a second sun, but closer to the ground and nowhere near as blinding. Takato took a good look at it and asked, "Hey, Andromon. When were you going to tell me about the big glowing light in the Digital World that wasn't here last time?"

"Answer: The light was not present during departure for the human world. This light is unknown at this time," Andromon answered flatly, staring at it intensely, "Optical Zoom at 50. Moving figure spotted. Unable to identify at this time."

Kazu pointed straight at it, waving the flag in his hand, "Well I say we go that way! I betcha Calumon is right there."

Rika raises up her digivice "What about our digivices? I mean, it can detect and identify digimon when they come from the other side, right? Why wouldn't it be able to find Calumon here?"

"Maybe?" Takato examined his own, "My old one broke and I can't still figure out how this specific model works. It's like…going from a computer to a calculator."

Rika cycled through the options on her digivice but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. In truth, she hadn't done much to experiment with the digivice since she got it. It usually just set off alarms whenever something happened and powered up Renamon when she swiped cards through the card reader. And from the looks of it, neither Henry or Juri had either. Renamon folded her arms at their hesitation and grunted, "We've been sitting idle for long enough and I'm not hearing any better ideas. Let's go…and everyone stick together. The last thing we need is to get separated from each other in a dangerous place like this."

"Hang on!" Kazu shouted aloud to stop them. He reached into his bag produced a collapsible pole that he reassembled and a piece of cloth that he mounted on top. With a firm shove into the ground, he shouted, "This is one small step for 'mon! One giant leap for 'mon kind!"

"Alright! It's picture time!" Kenta added happily, waving a digital camera in the air excitedly, "Come on guys! What are you waiting for! Kodak moment for our first time in the Digital World."

"What is he talking about?" Leomon looked at the rest of them in confusion. Rika closed her eyes, "It's a thing people do in our world. They take photos of every little thing to make memories of whatever. It doesn't matter how unimportant it is."

"Oh don't be like that Rika! This is important! It's our first time in the Digital World! Come on!" Juri cheered excitedly, taking hold of the poor girl and dragging her over to the flag. Rika wanted to protest but saw Renamon already perched atop the pole. Rika couldn't believe what she was seeing, "Not you too, Renamon!"

"I'm curious Rika. Besides, I get a pretty good view from up here. I can scout for danger while our photos are taken," Renamon answered flatly. Rika sighed in defeat and went along with getting their pictures taken, watching the others assemble beside the flag. Kenta took his time with each photo: first everyone, then just the humans, then just the digimon, the girls, and finally just the boys. Once they were done, Kenta excitedly started examining the pics only to groan, "Oh, what? What happened to my pictures? They're all fuzzy and blurry."

"That's never happened before," Takato called out, snatching the camera to see for himself, "I definitely remember Dizzy's computer worked fine. I wonder what happened here?"

"Well we are in another world. Maybe it's messing with the electronics?" Henry assumed quietly.

"That sucks. I brought this camera for nothing," Kenta sighed in defeat. Kazu picked up the flag and declared, "Don't worry about it. We got a lot more stuff to do. Let's just bring home some souvenirs while we're here!"

"What souvenirs? There's nothing but sand for miles," Kenta pointed out quietly. He marched along with them but sounded entirely annoyed by the loss of his photos. Rika decided now would be a good time to message her mom. She was probably worried sick about her already and started typing her message. She pulled out the D-Terminal and opened the lid. To say it was like nothing she'd ever seen would be an understatement. It was like a crammed keyboard and screen but it ran like it was a brand new computer. Still, part of her was just a little excited to think that her dad used to be one of the characters in her favorite book and that this was his D-Terminal. Without even thinking, she started typing aloud as she spoke, "We made it and we're all okay. We'll message you more later."

She wasn't sure which of the contacts were her mom so she simply hit send all. She closes the lid once the message was sent and noticed everyone was looking at her with the biggest of smiles. It was creepy in how unnerving it was, "What?"

"Just admiring how much more you've been opening up lately," Juri answered, folding her arms behind her back as her smile widened. Rika grunted, closed her eyes and put the device away, "Whatever. Let's get going already."

"Leomon, is the entire Digital World like this? Just miles of desert in every direction," Juri asked her partner aloud. Leomon grunted, "No. I don't know where this is but I've seen a lot of the Digital World: vast oceans, thick forests, steaming jungles, high peaked mountains, frosted glaciers, and more. The whole of the Digital World is as varied and diverse as your world I imagine. Unless I'm mistaken in thinking your entire world is just one big city."

"Yeah, I guess that would be silly if the world were just one big desert," Juri giggled quietly. Takato pocketed his hands, "Don't be too sure of that. There are lots of worlds that only have one kind of environment, if they have any at all."

"And how would you know that?" Kazu rolled his eyes in disbelief. Without skipping a beat or even cracking a smile, Takato answered, "Got stuck outside reality for a while - it was an abstract void of nothingness. Took me forever to find a way back to the Digital World. Went through a lot worlds in the process. One with naked giants trying to break down a wall, another where the whole world was flooded and dry land wasn't a concept, another where the only light came from a fire that everyone was really anxious to throw themselves into so it would burn a little longer. That world was…different. Also, does anyone else feel like something is off?"

"We're in another world goggle head! What part of this isn't weird?" Rika snapped at him. Takato laughed, "You have me there. No, I was thinking about how…I don't know…it feels like your world still. Like we never left."

"Well you said that there were two versions of our world sitting on top of each other. Maybe this is the same thing?" Kenta reasoned quietly. Takato's eyes widened and he spun around to face him, "Say that again."

"What?"

"Again! Say it again!"

"I was just saying that maybe there are two digital worlds sitting on top of each other," Kenta repeated quietly. Takato slapped a hand to his forehead, groaning in disbelief, "Of course! Of course! I'm an idiot! Henry! You're dad said he invented digimon! But the Digital World is infinitely old! UNLESS! He didn't build this Digital World! He built another one with his friends. And it started to intersect with this one! I'm an idiot! How did I miss that? It's no wonder nothing makes sense! There aren't three worlds sitting on top of each other! There are four! Not just two human worlds with conflicting histories and realities! Two digital worlds! That's what all of this is!"

"He's doing that thing where he's not making sense again," Kazu scratched the back of his head in confusion. The rest of them nodded in agreement but Terriermon chimed in, "He may not be talking sense but he's got more sense than any of us when it comes to this stuff. I say we keep listening to him and maybe we'll all make it out of this okay!"

"So basically do what my parents did back when they were our age?" Rika took the chance to shoot him a dirty look. Takato frowned at that, throwing up his hands defensively, "Your mom has issues with me. Actually, so did a lot of them. That's alright."

"Wait, I thought you said you couldn't remember much," Kenta pointed out. Takato smiles back, "Yeah, but being in the Digital World is helping to make it easier to remember things. It's like...oh! It's like when you have a horrible headache that finally goes away for the first time."

He said that with gleefully, and Terriermon commented, "Wow. That bad, huh? It's no wonder you do crazy stuff some times."

* * *

Juri had no idea what any of them were talking about. It was so confusing. But being in a strange new world like this was kind of exciting. And she was eager to learn as much about it as she could. So she looked to her partner, "Hey Leomon. What can you tell us about the Digital World?"

A big toothy grin came across his face and he beamed at her "What would you like to know Juri?"

"Anything, really. I don't know a whole lot about digimon. A lot of what I do know is just from what's been going on," she answered sheepishly. Leomon beat his chest proudly, "I will be happy to tell you any and all tales that would suit you, Juri. How about I tell you the story of the fallen hero? Or perhaps a tale of the Royal Knights? Stories of monsters and villains. I can even share a little history, but that's not really my specialty."

"A story sounds nice. What was that one about the Royal Knights?" Juri asked excitedly. She noticed Leomon begin breathing heavily with excitement as he began, "The Digital World has been home to many a hero in its time. But the Digital Knights were among the greatest of these heroes, gathered together by Imperialdramon during a dark time to help strike back and bring order. Of these heroes, one rose to become their leader: Alphamon, the Knight of the First Seat. In his absence, the Knights are led by Omegamon or some say Omnimon. And there were many strong digimon in their ranks: Gallantmon or some say Dukemon, Dynasmon, BanchoLeomon, Magnamon, UlforceVeedramon, Crusadermon, Examon. Together, they served to enforce order in the Digital World at the behest of its one true ruler: a being they call the king. That which is sublime, they preserve. That which is weak, they protect. That which threatens, they destroy. Some call them the first heroes of this world. But, as with all heroes and all unions, it was only a matter or time before they were driven apart - some say it started with The Great War, the war that threatened to tear our world apart. Each had their own ideas on how to end it, and their unity was tested by it. It broke, as they turned on each other. Some say they slew each other, others say they went into hiding - knowing their struggle was threatening to destroy an already fragile world. Whichever it was, they haven't been seen in a long time as a result. It is said though, that they will reveal themselves when the Digital World needs them most, doing all they can to save it before disappearing again. In my time I've seen at least two: Magnamon and Imperialdramon. If I live long enough, I would like to see more."

Kazu threw his arms behind his head, "That's lame. They only show up when you're already screwed. What's the point?"

Juri didn't agree. If anything, she felt the story was kinda sad. What would cause these heroes to turn on each other like that? "So...what was this war thing that drove them apart?"

Leomon sighed, "No one can say for sure. It was so long ago that few digimon remember what the reason even was. The few who did are either dead, in hiding, or no longer with us."

"Isn't that a fancy way of saying dead?" Henry looked back, joining the conversation too. Juri looked ahead to see the rest of the group looking back at her and Leomon. She was t sure when that had happened but she was embarrassed to suddenly be the center or attention. Leomon was much more welcoming of his listeners and answered, "Not at all! Life and death is different for digimon compared to you humans. I understand that human life ends upon death. But for a digimon, and all digital life really, that is much more complicated."

"Yeah, you guys reformat or something, right?" Henry asked aloud, "I remember that part from the books. The weak lose their memories, but the strong can retain their memories and part of their personality, right?"

"That is only if our data is able to disperse freely. It takes time but it can coalesce back into an egg. But for others, that isn't the case. You noticed I absorbed Indramon's data when I defeated him. He is dead but not dead. It would be more accurate to say we became one. He is in me or rather, I have absorbed him into my being. We are one entity, sharing thoughts, knowledge, memories, and skills. However, I am the dominant personality. If you're still following me."

Juri's head spun in confusion at that annoying explanation. If it even was supposed to be one. Rika must've understood it though because she asked, "Wait, does that mean you know what the Devas were up to? If you have his memories, why don't you tell us? Renamon! Why didn't you tell us?"

"What else was there to add that we didn't already know?" she replied matter of factly. Rika raised an eyebrow, "How would we know that? So does that mean you already knew?"

Renamon shook her head, remaining stoic in her answer, "Not at all. In truth, I've learned nothing I didn't already know. Well, besides WarGreymon perishing. That is a serious loss to all the Digital World. And also explains why the devas were in such a panic. Other than that, there was absolutely nothing I could have shared that we didn't already know. The devas are looking for the catalyst, there's some kind of danger coming that scared them and the Sovereigns, and they were desperate enough to try and break the barrier between worlds."

"Is that why digimon started showing up in our world?" Henry asked, looking over to Terriermon. Terriermon's ears perked up, "Hey! You brought me to your world. That had nothing to do with me."

"Many digimon knew there was a great danger coming, so we scrambled to become stronger. We turned on each other. How we ended up in the Real World is something I can't answer though. For me, the gate just appeared and I felt a calling to you. You were looking for a strong digimon partner and i was the strongest there at the time," Renamon said to Rika, her expression as unreadable as ever. Than didn't help Rika from looking like she was trying to hide the biggest scowl ever. After an uncomfortably long silence between them, Leomon offered, "To be entirely fair to Renamon, I don't think any digimon outside the sovereigns really know what's going on."

"The sovereigns. If I remember from the show, those are Azulongmon and three others, right?" Kazu asked excitedly, "So are we going to go meet them? Cause dude, that'd be so awesome to get to see those guys in real life! I even have his card! Do you think he'll sign it?"

He excitedly produced his deck and scanned through it before holding up a card for them to see. On it was an azure dragon with long flowing white hair, wrapped in chains and curling in on itself. Upon seeing it, Takato snatched the card from him, "This was him! Azulongmon! That's his name! Right! And Zhuqiaomon, the vermillion bird of the south! And there was...um...Ebonwumon! The tortoise of the north! And Baihumon, the tiger of the west! These guys are the protectors of the Digital World! It's all coming back now! They were...I...uh...oh..."

"Spit it out gogglehead," Rika snapped at him, "You keep doing that thing where you get excited and talk a mile a minute. Don't also start pausing for no reason. What is it?"

"Sorry," Takato shook his head, trying his hardest to avoid eye contact with them, "Renamon, you said WarGreymon was gone, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"What happened?" Takato murmured. Renamon shrugged and looked at both Andromon and Leomon. Both shifted uncomfortably, but the silence said more than words could. Then Leomon added, "We wanted to tell you. We just...weren't sure how to."

Takato gave no answer, sheepishly handing Kazu his card back and continuing walking ahead without them. Kazu shouted to get his attention but he didn't even look back, "Hey! Takato! What's with him?"

"If he is who he claims, then it's no surprise," Renamon folded her arms, "The Digimon Tamer had a partner of his own. WarGreymon - one of, if not the bravest digimon in the Digital World. The two were close to each other in a way that can't be put into words. Until The Digimon Tamer vanished. WarGreymon stood guard in his absence. If he is The Digimon Tamer, it can be said that he is truly alone now."

"Why is that?" Juri asked. Renamon started walking after him, "I will explain as I walk...or rather, Leomon can since he was there. My knowledge is second hand."

Leomon grunted quietly, "She is right, The Digimon Tamer is truly alone now. You recall that conflict I mentioned, yes? The Great War as it's called. It didn't just threaten our world. It threatened all worlds. The Digital World. The Human World. All other worlds. A long time ago, perhaps before even the sovereigns themselves, there was a race called the Digital Agents, but they had other names. Today, we refer to them as the Ancients. Although he seems insistent on calling them the Guardians. From atop their holy bastion, they looked down upon the lesser life forms of this world and others - sworn to observe and guide only when needed, for the Ancients had one thing that no other race could. They could see the ebb and flow of destiny: what was, what is, what could be, what must be, what can't be, and what must not. But something came, something out of the cold dark outside their purview. What it was is forgotten today but the Ancients waged a war against it. A war so devastating that it spread across other worlds like wild fire. In the end, the war destroyed countless worlds and altered the very fabric of reality. The only survivors of that long forgotten war were The Digimon Tamer and his partner WarGreymon. Everyone else perished. And now, with WarGreymon gone, it would seem that The Digimon Tamer is the last. One can only wonder what that kind of isolation does to a mind."

"All the more reason to keep up with him in case he does something really stupid," Renamon added, hurrying her pace. Juri's eyes were fixed on Takato now, wondering what exactly was going through his head. He always became uncharacteristically quiet when something was bothering him. And he was very quiet right now.

They continued on towards the bright light in the distance in silence after that. Well, mostly silence as Kazu and Kenta chatted excitedly about what exactly they'd get to run into in the Digital World. And soon, they found themselves getting passed by a dozen small glowing balls bouncing along the ground, "What is that?"

"They look like tumble weeds. Digital tumble weeds? Is that a thing?" Kazu said aloud, watching them bounce along. Andromon finally spoke, "Information: These are data fragments from deleted digimon that haven't reached Primary Village, coalescing into barely sentient entities with barely any will of their own."

"Oh, that's so sad," Juri said quietly, watching the balls bounce along and wondering just who they were before they became this. Could they think? Could they feel? Were they even aware that this is what they were? It didn't help that Renamon added, "This is the Digital World and that is its only real law: the weak die, the strong live. Don't feel too sorry for them."

"What happened here?" Takato asked at just above a whisper.

"Where are they going anyway? There's no wind," Kenta pointed out, adjusting his glasses to see what lay just ahead of them. Andromon pointed ahead, "Observation: they're probably fleeing from that."

They followed his pointed finger to see Takato still walking with his head down. And just ahead of him was a digimon whose body was made of bright orange flames. It slowly stomped towards him, spreading out his hands to create two burning flames as he shouted, "Who are you and what are you doing in my domain?"

Takato didn't answer. In fact, he didn't even seem to register Meramon was there. He just kept walking right up to it. Guilmon had already rushed ahead to growl at him but that didn't stop either of them from walking towards each other. Rika groaned, "That idiot! What is he doing? Renamon! You have to help him before he gets himself killed to that Meramon!"

Meramon. Juri looked ahead at the digimon and wondered just why Takato was ignoring it. And that was definitely annoying the digimon more. Just as Meramon raised his fist to deal an attack, Renamon and Guilmon dashed ahead, "Pyrosphere!"

"Diamond Storm!"

Both attacks took Meramon by surprise and he instead moved his arms to defend himself, "You fiends, attacking me with your numbers. You won't beat me with such tactics!"

"Takatomon!" Guilmon called out to him, rushing at the boy and sliding between his legs to throw him onto his back. The boy didn't even register that he was was on his partner now as the digimon started retreating back to the others - leaving Renamon alone to deal with Meramon. Guilmon slid to a stop beside the others and Rika scolded him, "What's the matter with you Gogglehead? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Takato didn't answer and was still spaced out. Henry waved his hands in front of his face and even snapped his fingers to get his attention, "He's definitely out of it. Maybe we should leave him be for a while."

"Leave him be? We're in another world where the first person we met tried to kill us and he wants to...do whatever this is!" Rika shouted out angrily, "You know what? Forget it. Well take out Meramon on our own! Renamon! Kick some of this sand on him to douse his flames!"

"Excellent idea, Rika!" Renamon complied, whipping her tail along the sand to kick up a small cloud of want at Meramon. The digimon roared in disgust, covering his eyes, "More cheap tricks? You won't get me with that! Learn to fight with honor!"

"I take offense to that," Renamon spat out, charging straight into Meramon and kicking him across his jaw, "Take this!"

The digimon staggered back in surprise, angered that she'd gotten the drop on him, "Grah! You think you're so strong! Take this!"

He threw a fireball at Renamon, who managed to leap over the attack and kick more sand at Meramon. Watching the fight play out, Terriermon couldn't help but state, "I'm all for watching a good fight, but does anyone else think it's kinda one sided? I mean, Meramon hasn't even gotten a hit in."

"And here I thought you would've wanted to join in," Henry murmured. Terriermon shrugged at that suggestion, "I don't know, I still might if Meramon gets a lucky hit in. If, Henry. If. Don't look at me like that."

"Well, I don't think he's going to anytime soon," Kazu folded his arms behind his head just as Renamon got another good kick in, throwing Meramon onto his back. The fiery digimon lay on the ground, holding his hands up in defeat, cursing at them furiously, "You fiends! You've defeated me! Just go ahead and finish it already! You…you…dirty, vile cheaters! Using cheap tactics like that."

"We're not finishing anything," Renamon answered seriously, offering him a hand to help him stand up, "As for cheap, you're the one who attacked a defenseless human boy who didn't even realize you were there. Now stop your whimpering and tell us why you attacked."

Meramon became defensive, "You entered my territory! All I wanted was a little peace and quiet, but you crazy digimon keep coming here trying to pick fights. I don't care if you want to fight each other until you're all dead just do it away from me! But if you're so insistent on fighting me to the death, then finish it already so I don't have to deal with this conversation."

"I ALREADY SAID WE'RE NOT DOING THAT!" Renamon said more loudly, but it still didn't seem to register with Meramon. Juri looked at Leomon in confusion, wondering if all digimon were like this. Her partner shrugged back, just as lost as she was. Then Terriermon provided another observation, "Talk about melodramatic. Look buddy, we're not going to kill you! We're looking for one of our friends. A little digimon named Calumon. He was taken by a monkey called Makuramon. Have you seen them?"

"Wait, so you're not here to kill me?" Meramon looked up at them with a raised eyebrow. Rika scoffed, "Are you kidding? We've been saying that!"

"He's kinda slow, isn't he?" Terriermon turned his head. Andromon shook his head, "Negative. Meramon's speed is within acceptable parameters for his type. Renamon simply moved faster than he could."

"It's called a joke buddy, learn what that is," Terriermon frowned in disbelief. Meramon pushed himself up, dusting the dirt off himself before answering, "Well, I haven't seen a monkey ever. And I don't even know what a Calumon is. Is that a baby digimon?

"I mean…you're not wrong," Terriermon answered, earning himself a smack from Henry, "Be nice."

"What? He is kind of an odd ball," Terriermon said in his defense. Henry just sighed, covering his face in disbelief at his partner's own disregard for polite behavior. Juri giggled a little though. It was nice that the fighting was over, especially since it seemed like the only thing that got hurt was Meramon's pride. Then she looked over at Takato who still appeared to be stuck in a daze. All this had transpired, and it seemed like he hadn't noticed.

She could feel herself shaking, worried for him. But then the shaking didn't stop. In fact, it seemed to be getting stronger. Kazu asked, "Is there an earthquake?"

"Not an earthquake, a stampede," Terriermon said as his ears perked up. He pointed off into the horizon towards a small dust cloud and a beam of light coming towards them, "I can hear it! It's coming from over there!"

"What is that?" Kenta asked, adjusting his glasses to get a better look. Juri felt her digivice beep again and examined it, watching an image come on screen of what looked like a dog covered in rocks with a plant for a tail, "Jagamon, a vegetable digimon that are known for migrating in large herds. Is that bad?"

Leomon explained, "Only if we get stampeded. Maybe we should move. Meramon, is there a safe place nearby where we could hide?"

"Sure, I'll just invite you in," Meramon began with an insincere tone, "It's not like I said I want to be left alone. What's with all these visitors I'm getting today? Forget that, JAGAMON! IF YOU COME ANY CLOSER, I WILL DESTR-Wait! I SAID WAIT! Uh-oh! AARGH!"

His threats fell on deaf ears as he was summarily run over by the stampede. Renamon leapt back to Rika's side before she could be trampled by the horde of digimon and warned, "We should get out of the way."

"Good idea," Henry said, already turning to run out of their path. Henry, Terriermon, Juri, Leomon, and Guilmon carrying Takato all moved to one side of the stampede. Rika, Renamon, Kazu, Kenta, and Andromon retreated to the opposite side. Both groups could only look on at each other and the stampede of Jagamon as they continued streaming past in some kind of collective panic. In fact, when Juri concentrated on what they were all saying, it sounded like they were all screaming, "Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away!"

"What are they running from?" Juri asked Leomon, following the stampede back to see the pillar of light inexorably advancing towards them. Leomon pointed at it, "Likely that. It's a data stream. They became a lot more frequent in the Digital World lately. We're not entirely sure what they are beyond the fact that they just pull you to another part of the Digital World. Only it's entirely at random. Don't worry. Based on its path, it'll go right past us."

Juri traced the path with her own eyes, uncertain of Leomon's assessment and gasped. It would miss them. It would also hit the others. And they didn't even notice because they were too busy watching the Jagamon run past to notice, "GUYS! RUN! DON'T LET THE LIGHT HIT YOU!"

Rika shouted something back but it was hard to hear over the roar of the stampeding Jagamon. Juri pointed at the light and shouted again, "LOOK OUT FOR THE LIGHT!"

Rika shouted again. It was no use. They couldn't hear each other. And then they started bickering - at least that's how it looked from where she was standing. Henry tried his luck next, "Guys! Look out for the light!"

It was still no use. And then, like some kind of cosmic prank, they finally realized the pillar of light was coming straight at them. It was too late for them to run from it, and too late for Juri or the others to do anything to help them. All they could do was watch in silent terror as the light sucked them up into the sky. Leomon frowned, "Well. That's bad."

"We need to go after them!" Juri declared pointing at the pillar of light as it continued on. Before she could even try to run after it, Leomon grabbed her by the shoulder, holding tight despite her protests to chase after it, "I understand how you feel Juri, but that's not a good idea. If we jump into the light, there's no guarantee that we'll go where they went. It's better for everyone if we don't."

"We can't just leave them!" she protested. Leomon nodded, "I'm not saying we abandon them. I'm saying we look for them the old fashioned way. It'll be easier to start from where we know we are than it will be for us to chase after them and getting just as lost."

Juri felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. They'd only been in the Digital World for an hour and they were already separated. Takato was out of it. Half of them were lost, some place else in the Digital World. She hoped this wasn't a signal of things to come.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rescue mission has already run into disaster! Will Takato snap out of his funk? Can they find the others before they find more trouble? Will they be okay without them? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next week on Friday, August 23rd at 5 PM CDT. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section. And don't forget to follow the story to keep up with updates and favorite to show support! That's all for now! Let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "But the headache is what kept us safe!" Clockmon countered, "Now he will wake up and bring a hundred years of death and destruction upon us! He'll change all the clocks, reprogram our VCRs, change the language settings on our computers, and steal everyone's left shoe!"
> 
> Rika had just about enough nonsense for one day, "Okay, I'm going to start ignoring you guys now. Let me know when you're ready to start making sense."
> 
> "But you don't understand!" Hagurumon panicked, "He's going to kill us all!"
> 
> "Who is?" Kazu asked curiously enough, signaling a low rumble to start in the distance. The snowy land began to rip itself apart and split open for a massive orange dragon with mechanical claws and wings to emerge from the earth. Clockmon pointed at the digimon, "He is! Megadramon! Destroyer of lands, breaker of our things, and bully of us!"


	24. Rika in Wonderland

Rika and the others fell for some time. At least that was how it felt to her. With how traveling worked in the Digital World, she wouldn't be surprised if they were actually flying up instead. But there was no time to dwell on that. They were still being sent to who knows where and the others were back where they first arrived in the Digital World and they were separated from the others . She tried to keep a mental track of where they were going but it was impossible to keep it all straight without any actual sense of direction. She remembered seeing desert, trees, rivers, oceans, mountains, plains, and then she began to lose track of things.

Before she knew it, they were hurtling down into a ravine and straight into the river below. If there was any consolation with their current situation, it was that both Kazu, Andromon, and Kenta were in this ordeal with them. Then the two boys got knocked out by impact. It would buy her a few minutes of silence, until she remembered that she would need to keep their heads above water so they wouldn't drown. She struggled against the current and grabbed a hold of one of them as they floated past, trying to turn this one so he'd be face up. From the brief glimpse she could get while she wasn't trying to keep herself afloat, she could make out a green hat and spiky hair. Because of course the more annoying one would be the one she grabbed.

She tried scanning the water but couldn't find Kenta, "Renamon! We need to keep these guys from drowning!"

No answer. The silence turned to panic at the thought that Renamon may have sunk into the water too. She tried turning her head and didn't see her anywhere. Had she already sunk into the water? No, that couldn't be it. She considered dropping Kazu to go find her - no, she couldn't live with herself if he drowned. But what should she do? What could she do?

The water broke beside her as Renamon emerged from the water holding Kenta in her arms, "Rika! Rika! Are you okay?"

"Renamon, I'm fine!" she said, breathing a sigh of relief. She was alive. Good. Renamon grabbed a hold of her with her free hand, "Hold on, I'm going to get us out of here!"

"Right," Rika adjusted herself so that could hold Renamon with one arm and still keep Kazu from getting pulled into the current. Once she was properly braced, Renamon bobbed in the water to prep herself for a jump. And then they were in the air, Renamon angling herself to leap from canyon wall to canyon wall until they were out of the ravine and on solid ground. Instantly, Renamon collapsed on the ground - coughing up water and spit. Rika did the same, throwing Kazu off her so that she could get a good breath of air, "We made it."

"Yeah," Renamon gasped, her eyes growing heavy before she fainted. Rika felt a small wave of panic return, but it was overpowered by a growing fatigue and darkness. Maybe she'd rest for a minute. Yeah, a short nap. That would do it. Then she'd check on her partner. She assured herself that she would close her eyes only for a few minutes as she drifted off into darkness.

* * *

Rika jolted awake when she remembered they were in the Digital World. They had to go find the others before they ran into trouble. Or trouble found them. Renamon couldn't protect all three of them. She scrambled upright and tried to take in her surroundings only to find they were no longer out in the open of the Digital World. She was lying in a darkened bedroomed on a soft cushioned bed under nice and warm blankets. Glancing around the room, she found two other beds with figures lying under the blankets. And going by the snores, it was Kazu and Kenta. At least they were okay. But when did they get here? And where was Renamon?

She threw the covers off and climbed off the bed to find her shoes at the foot of the bed. Whoever brought them here had also taken her shoes off. Now there was confusion on top of the concern. Who did this and who saved them? She felt her way through the dark room until she found what seemed like a door knob and opened it just a crack.

On the other side was a room dimly lit by a fire in a fireplace. There were two chairs facing towards it and she could vaguely make out two figures sitting comfortably in the chairs. And there was a third figure, Renamon leaning against the fireplace with her arms folded. She seemed calm and at ease. That put her mind at ease, giving her the energy to crack the door open. Renamon turned her head to look at her, "I'm glad to see you're awake Rika."

"I'm glad to see you're okay too Renamon," Rika smiled at her partner. She was hoping the light would give her a better view of who was sitting in the chairs but it was still too dim to see properly, "What happened? How did we get here?"

"We happened!" a gravelly voice answered her, one of the figures rising from the chair. It reached into the dark and turned on a lamp that lit up the room - enabling her to better see them. They were short digimon dressed in long, flowing robes. One was a scraggly old humanoid with an overgrown beard that completely obscured his face. The other was an older woman with her hair tied into a bun at the top of her head. And both carried walking sticks - or rather a broom and a cane with a paw on the end. The older male greeted her, "It's about time you kids woke up, I thought I was going to die from the anticipation!"

"Anticipation for what?" Rika asked. Her answer came in the form of the scraggly old man bringing his stick down on her, "TAKE THIS!"

Rika moved out of the way, "What gives? Renamon! Help!"

"Just keep running Rika," Renamon answered calmly, "Or let him hit you. Either way, he'll stop from being tired or he'll stop from disappointment."

Rika looked at her partner in disbelief, her jaw falling open as she mouthed, "Are you serious?"

Renamon nodded. Rika was not in the business of letting herself get hit, so she stopped in her tracks to face the chasing old man. She grabbed the old digimon's walking stick before it struck her head and used it to smack the digimon back. The digimon stopped for a moment, seemingly shocked from being attacked.

"Hmph. I'm disappointed. Kids these days ain't got no respect," the little digimon grunted, snatching his stick back and resting it on his shoulder. He retreated back to his chair, grumbling about giving them shelter in their home only to be struck on the head by her. The irony wasn't lost on Rika who wanted to point out they attacked first. The other digimon spoke with a raspy voice, "That wasn't much of a fight. How do you expect to be entertained if you're not going to try your hardest at fighting sweetie?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Rika demanded, now as annoyed as she was confused. Renamon finally stepped away from her spot on the wall and explained, "These are Jijimon and Babamon. They're the ones who rescued us after we climbed out of the ravine. They're also...different."

The elder Babamon pointed her broom at them, "Hey! You lot are the one who're different, falling out of the sky like that and then climbing out onto our lawn! What do they teach kids these days, anyways? Besides, you ain't a digimon little girl."

Jijimon agreed, prodding her with his cane, "She's right, we know you're a human. Just look at those noodley arms and pineapple hair! You probably can't even bench one of you."

All that did was annoy Rika more, "So if you knew I was a human, why did you go trying to attack me?"

Jijimon and Babamon swapped looks, and then looked back at her, "Honestly? We were bored and wanted to see if humans could fight. So far we're not impressed. Maybe those boys can put up more of a fight whenever they wake up. Either way, I thought humans were supposed to be strong! Or are you just one of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer types?"

Rika wasn't even sure where to begin dissecting that one. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? What did a Christmas song have to do with anything? She massaged her head to soothe the headache she was having before asking, "Okay, what? Look, why did you help us?"

"It would've been rude to just leave you lying out in our lawn while you were injured," Babamon explained, finally rising off her chair to meet Rika. She was a lot smaller up close now that Rika could get a good look at her. The little old digimon probably couldn't see as well since she used her broom to pull Rika close, "You look a little thin. Don't they feed you right in the human world? You must be starving. Poor thing. Come with me into the kitchen and we'll make you some good eating. I hope you like bread and pancakes because we've got plenty of flour to use!"

Before Rika could even try to protest, Babamon started pushing her into the kitchen and threw an apron at her, "Put that on and wash your hands."

Rika looked at the apron, then at her hands. She wasn't sure when it happened, but she had lost control of the situation. Worse, she had basically turned into a baker! When had she become goggle head? She sighed and threw the apron on, pondering what the two digimon were playing at. Was this a trick? Renamon always said the law of the Digital World was that the weak died so that the strong could live. And these two could've easily taken them out while they were unconscious. Despite her misgivings, she went along with it.

It was just in time as Babamon handed her a bowl with a bag of flour in it, "Here you go! Go ahead and start mixing that with some water while I get the rest of the ingredients!"

She sighed and followed the instructions, being careful to keep an eye on Babamon in case she tried to mix poison into the mix. All the while, Babamon just hummed to herself quietly as she worked in the kitchen. After a while Babamon remarked, "If you're looking to stare me to death, then you should know that I was quite the looker back in the day and it'll take more than that to stop me."

Rika looked away in embarrassment, sheepishly adding, "I'm just trying to figure out why you helped us."

Babamon laughed, "Relax. It's like my babushka Jijimon said, it would've been rude to leave you kids out there by yourselves after you fell out of the sky and crawled out of that ravine. Besides, if we wanted to hurt you, we would've done it in your sleep. There's enough fighting in the Digital World already. It doesn't need anymore."

"Babushka?" Rika repeated quietly, unsure of what that word meant before realizing that wasn't what she should be paying attention to, "He attacked me as soon as I got out of the bedroom!"

Without even flinching, Babamon answered, "We wanted to see how strong you were! You're partner said you helped her digivolve all the way to the Ultimate level! A few whacks from a cane should've been nothing to you."

"That's really not how that works," Rika answered, only to get a rolling pin handed to her. Babamon added, "Now that you've got the dough mixed, go ahead and knead it and used the rolling pin to flatten it!"

"What kind of bread are we even making?" she asked. Babamon shushed her and returned to whatever she was doing, leaving Rika alone again to follow her instructions in utter silence. As much as Rika had questions, she was glad Babamon was not a talker - the last thing she wanted was to engage in some unwanted small talk conversation. Especially when she still wasn't sure that she could trust the elderly digimon at all. Her mind raced with every possibility - what if food in the Digital World was poisonous to humans? Or what if the food was drugged? Maybe they were already drugged while they were asleep and Babamon was just waiting for them to keel over. Or maybe they were just being lulled into a false sense of security? Or maybe she was just being paranoid.

She turned all these thoughts over in her head until she heard a crash from the living room and went to investigate. Babamon followed along just behind her to see for herself, but neither of them was expecting the spectacle they found. Kazu and Kenta were standing atop the arm chairs - using a fire poker and a broom to fend off Jijimon who was coming at them with his cane. After trading a few bouts, Jijimon leapt at them and the two boys fell backwards off their chairs. It didn't take long for everyone to scramble back to their feet and the fight to continue, all while Renamon observed from the far corner of the living. Rika sighed, "What's going on here?"

"We don't know! He attacked us!" Kenta yelped as he slammed into a wall - or rather was pushed gently into it by Jijimon's beating stick, "Why are you running away? I thought you humans were supposed to be brave and strong! Stop running away!"

"Who said anything about being brave!?" Kenta cried as he snuck out from under the bre. Not wanting to be lumped in with Kenta, Kazu quickly shouted, "I'm just retreating to a more advantageous position!"

"There's an expression for that! It's called running away!" Jijimon growled at them, continuing to chase after them in a hilarious display. Or what would've been if it wasn't painful to watch. That didn't stop her from smiling with amusement. She even noted Renamon pressing a finger to her lips, signaling to be quiet. Despite that, it was obvious the boys were starting to slow down from getting tired. Once Rika had gotten her fill of laughter in, she finally walked up to the two boys and kicked them to the ground from behind. Seeing this was enough to get Jijimon to stop chasing them, "Hmph. The girl has more spunk than you two. Maybe I was wrong. The human female is stronger."

"Hey! We're plenty strong!" Kazu protested, earning himself another kick from behind by Rika. Jijimon smirked, "Whatever you say kid. So what are a bunch of humans doing in the Digital World? You ain't the digidestined are ya? Here to save us from another world ending threat?"

"We're actually looking for a friend of ours. A small little digimon called Calumon and the digimon who kidnapped him, a monkey name Makuramon," Renamon explained to the two elderly digimon, moving to help the two hapless boys up. Both Babamon and Jijimon exchanged looks before the Babamon answered, "We haven't heard of either of those digimon before. Who are they?"

Kenta offered an explanation, "Makuramon is something called a Deva. A bunch of them have been coming to attack us in our world. He's the one who kidnapped our friend, and now we're here. As for Calumon, he's-"

"A small guy who's probably going to get himself killed," Rika interrupted, stopping Kenta from explaining what exactly they were looking for. She shot him a warning look and he understood right away that he'd almost made a serious mistake. Renamon added, "We came here with a much larger group when we were separated, hence how we came to your home. After they've rested, we will he leaving to go find the...oh, oh no."

Renamon didn't often panic and it made her uneasy to hear her partner worry , "What is it?"

"Andromon was with us," she answered calmly. Now it was Rika's turn to panic. That was right. Andromon was with them. How could she have forgotten all about him? He was probably their only chance of getting back to the others! And assuming he didn't get destroyed when they were hit by that light, that must've meant he fell into the ravine and got carried away. She swallowed a lump forming in her throat. She tried to assure herself he was fine, but he was a giant robot that had fallen in water. There was no way he was okay! If he was even still alive.

"Why are you in an apron?"

She forgot all her concerns at the sound of Kazu's voice and leered at him, only to see he was blushing, "I mean...it's kinda cute."

She gave him one more kick for good measure and returned to the kitchen to finish helping Babamon. From behind her, she could hear Kazu whining, "Why does she only hit me?"

"Because you keep opening your mouth," Renamon explained.

* * *

After they'd made lunch and had a chance to eat, Kazu let out a burp, "Oh wow, that was really good."

"Of course! She's a great cook! She hasn't killed me yet, anyway. And not for a lack of trying," Jijimon laughed, fending off Babamon's attempts to bat at him. Renamon had kept to sipping at some juice and eating handfuls of bread, "Why are you treating us with this kindness? It is unusual."

"We've been around long enough to know there's enough fighting and violence in the world. What's wrong with putting some kindness into it every once in a while?" Jijimon explained. Babamon clicked her tongue angrily, "What he means is he's a dirty coward afraid to pick a fight with stronger digimon."

"I'll fight you, you beautiful piece of data!" Jijimon growled. Babamon crosses her arms, "Please. You're so old, I'm surprised you can even get that stick of yours up!"

"Not for you, I can't," Jijimon hissed. Rika covered her ears to try and block out any more double entendres, but Kazu and Kenta started cheering them on. So much for putting a little kindness back into the Digital World. Renamon set her juice down, "If you two are so keen on being friendly, why do you keep fighting? Us and each other?"

"Well what else are we supposed to do in a sandstorm?" Babamon shrugged, "We're going to be stuck here for a while so best get comfortable."

"Sandstorm?" Kenta repeated, getting up and making his way to the door, "What sandstorm? Sure it was windy but what would make you think there was a sandstorm?"

Without thinking, he undid the latch on the door and watched it swing open by itself from a powerful gust of wind. Sand poured in with it and everyone broke out into a panic, "Way to go, dingus!"

"MY LIVING ROOM!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"Close the door, dammit!"

Rika forced herself up and pushed her way towards the door where Kenta was helplessly trying to shut it again. Kazu and Renamon were just behind her and they were able to push it closed together, holding it shut while Kenta fumbled with the lock, "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"

"Now we gotta clean up all this sand," Babamon complained, snapping her fingers so that her broom came to life on its own. It swept up the sand into a dust tray on the side of the room, that Jijimon picked up to empty so that it could get more sand in. Again, Kenta clasped his hands together, "I'm really sorry! I didn't know!"

"Meh, it happens," Jijimon shrugged, "But until that's done, you kids are stuck here."

"Which is why we fight!" Babamon picked up a ladle and swung it at Kenta. The boy helped he was struck, "I'm sorry! Please!"

* * *

They stayed with Babamon and Jijimon for at least a whole day before the winds died down enough for them to venture out into the sand storms. Thankfully, the two digimon were more than happy to provide them with some bread and instant soup packets for their trip before they left. Thankfully, the ravine was literally right at their backyard so they didn't have to go far to find where they'd started. Much like where they first landed, all they could find was miles of sandy desert in every direction waiting for them. It was as if the Digital World was nothing but one giant desert, unlike everything they'd seen in the shows or the movies. The ravine they fell into continued off into the distance and disappeared into the horizon. Kenta moaned, "Oh man, there's no telling where Andromon is now. How are we supposed to find him?"

"Not just that, how do we get back to finding the others? We don't even know where we are!" Kazu complained, "And we lost half of our supplies when we crashed here."

Rika pointed down the stream, "We follow the river until we find him. Then we look for Takato and the others."

Kenta looked down at the river below and whined, "But who knows how far he could've gone. The current is going pretty fast. It could take days or weeks to catch up."

"Then we'd better start walking," Rika declared, taking her first steps towards the horizon, "And if you don't want to be left behind, you'd better start walking."

Renamon followed after her at a brisk pace, "Come along you two. And stay close. Without digimon partners, you two are easy prey for whatever is out here that could want to eat and/or kill you."

The boys yelped at that and hurried after them. They walked for what felt like hours under the blistering heat of the sun, stopping every so often to rest and drink some water. It was about sunset before the river led them to something other than more desert sand. And that was a rock formation that vaguely resembled satellite dishes and skyscrapers.

With it getting late, they opted to rest for the night under the stars with the rock formations as cover in case another sandstorm started up. They made a quick dinner and tried to relax. Despite being the desert, it was surprisingly cold for the Digital World and all three kids found themselves shivering through the night. As she lay there, she contemplated what her parents were doing right now and recalled that she needed to message them. She reached back into her bag for the D-Terminal and examined it in her hand. Thankfully it worked which was a good sign. There was still no reply from her parents though which was depressing. She sighed and thought to update the, typing out her message quietly: ' _Resting for the night. We got separated in sand storm. Kazu and Kenta are with me and Renamon. Going to try and find the others in the morning_ '.

She pressed send and waited but got no reply. Maybe they were t getting the messages? Or maybe goggle head was right and time was all messed up again? Maybe the messages would reach them in days? Or maybe her mom was getting the messages in rapid succession and don't have time to answer. She set the D-Terminal back in her bag and tried to settle in. Before long, Kazu was complaining, "We're in the desert! Why does it feel like we're in the back of a freezer?"

"We all watched the show, Kazu. This kind of thing is supposed to be normal in the Digital World!" Kenta answered knowledgeably. This only annoyed Kazu more, "Okay, genius. If you're so smart, how about you figure out how to warm it back up again?"

"I would if my glasses hadn't fogged up from the cold," Kenta explained, adjusting his glasses for them to see. Unfortunately, it was dark and hard to actually see his glasses. This emboldened Kazu, "I can't see in the dark, genius."

Their constant bickering was getting on Rika's nerves, but she was too tired to actually tell them to the stop. At least until she felt something cold touch her face and she snapped, "Whichever one of you creeps touched me better own up to it now or I'll knock you both senseless."

"We're all the way over here and we can't see in the dark. How would we have touched you?" Kazu asked. That was all rendered moot when she felt something else cold touch her. And another. Kenta's voice asked, "Does anyone else feel that?"

"It's snowing," Renamon remarked. Kazu groaned, "Because of course it is. We're in the Digital World. Why wouldn't it snow in the middle of a desert!"

"Maybe that's why it got so cold all of a sudden," Kenta suggested, shuffling around in the dark until he was beside Rika. Rika wanted to smack him away but was unable to ignore how much warmer it was with him beside her. Especially now that it was snowing. It didn't last long though as more snow continued to fall on her and she quickly stood up to start moving her body. Renamon must've sensed her motion and asked, "Where are you going Rika?"

"I'm trying to keep moving to keep warm," she answered, "It's freezing."

It was definitely a bad idea to be walking around when she couldn't see so she started walking in circles just so that she wouldn't get too far from them. As she spun around, she started to get a dizzying motion sickness and had to stop - falling flat on the snow-sand mix so she could rest. But the motion sickness didn't subside, or the feeling of moving in circles. She looked up from her walk to ask, "What gives?"

"Does anyone else feel like we're spinning?" Kenta asked. Rika nodded, looking up at the stars and noticing they were spinning. Or rather she was spinning. On the ground. She sat up and tried to get her bearings in the dark, "It feels like we're on something moving!"

"I think it's a wheel!" Kazu said. No sooner did he say that but they were propelled upwards into the sky. Kenta yelped out, "What kind of wheel flies?"

"I don't think it's a wheel! It's a propellor!" Renamon shouted out as they continued skyward into a patch of clouds that wasn't there before. Just as they were sure they were going to go flying off, the spinning stopped and they were thrown onto a fluffy cold landing. Rika sat up quickly, trying to warm herself back up to see that they'd gone from miles of desert to miles of snow banks surrounded by floating gears and clocks. And one in particular was stuck making an exceptionally loud ticking noise.

"Where are we?" she asked, trying to find something that looked like the rock formations. It was nowhere in sight. How far had the spinning wheel thing thrown them? Kazu and Kenta's heads poked out of the snow, like plants bursting forth in spring. Kenta face palmed and moaned, "Did anyone get the number of that frisbee?"

"I'm going to be sick," Kazu added, before throwing up beside Kenta. Kenta tried to move his head away, "Ew! EW! Get away from me!"

"Come on, you two," Renamon strolled up to them casually and pulled them out of the snow, "This isn't the time to be lying about. We do have work to do."

She set them down and rejoined Rika, covering her ears and pressing them down, "What on earth is that horrible ticking noise!?"

"It's coming from that clock!" Kenta pointed out one clock in particular - a grandfather clock with a knife embedded between the minute hand and the hour hand so that it was stuck at 11:59. Every time the second hand tried to pass on to 12, the clock made a loud tick as if to protest the knife's presence. Annoyed, Rika marched straight for the knife and pulled it out, "What kinda idiot would do that?"

As soon as the knife was free, the clock quieted down and the clock reached midnight. She breathed a sigh of relief now that the noise was over and her headache was subsiding. She couldn't enjoy it for long though as two new voices chimed behind her in a panic. Two new digimon in a frenzy and panic. Going off memory, she recognized the floating gear with a face as Hagurumon and the one riding a giant clock as Clockmon.

Hagurumon yelped, "Oh no! We're in trouble! He's going to wake up!"

"Wake up? More like sleep now that the noise is gone," Rika corrected, "That was giving me a headache."

"But the headache is what kept us safe!" Clockmon countered, "Now he will wake up and bring a hundred years of death and destruction upon us! He'll change all the clocks, reprogram our VCRs, change the language settings on our computers, and steal everyone's left shoe!"

Rika had just about enough nonsense for one day, "Okay, I'm going to start ignoring you guys now. Let me know when you're ready to start making sense."

"But you don't understand!" Hagurumon panicked, "He's going to kill us all!"

"Who is?" Kazu asked curiously enough, signaling a low rumble to start in the distance. The snowy land began to rip itself apart and split open for a massive orange dragon with mechanical claws and wings to emerge from the earth. Clockmon pointed at the digimon, "He is! Megadramon! Destroyer of lands, breaker of our things, and bully of us!"

The two digimon turned to flee, which was just as well for Rika because it meant she wouldn't have to listen to their insanity any longer. She produced her digivice and nodded to her partner, both feeling the thrill of a real battle in the first time since they came to this world. If this guy was the threat to the Digital World, then this would be a very short trip. She raised up her digivice and swiped the first few cards she thought she would need, "Digimodify! Speed Boost Activate! Power Boost Activate! Angewomon's Bow Activate!"

Renamon took off in a flash, dashing towards Megadramon and loosing a few arrows from her bow to get his attention, "Hey! Big boy! Over here!"

The arrows hit their mark and wounded the digimon, making him turn his head. He let out a roar that sent a blast of cold wind their way before firing an array of missiles from his claws, "Dark Side Attack!"

Renamon leapt and weaved through the missiles, leaping onto one and using them as platforms to propel herself up to Megadramon, taking a clean shot at close range that hit him in the eye, "Surprise!"

Megadramon howled and took a swing at Renamon, throwing the digimon out of the air and straight into the snow beside her. Rika gasped and ran to her partner's side, calling her name in panic, "Renamon!"

"He got a lucky shot in," Renamon grunted, pushing herself back up, "But he's wounded and blind in one eye. One more good shot should do it."

"Are you sure?" Rika asked, helping her partner back up onto her feet, "You can barely stand."

Renamon steadied herself and knocked another arrow into the bow, "Yes I am fine. I just-"

"Desolation Claw!"

A beam of energy whipped through the air and struck Megadramon in the chest, knocking the flailing dragon back to the ground. Something small and fast then leapt onto him - what appeared to be a mix of a dog and a dragon with four red wings wrapped entirely in metal armor. The brutality with which this beast started beating on Megadramon made Rika turn her head in terror. Every punch made a sickening crunch, followed by a wet splash as the once powerful dragon was slowly reduced to a bloody pulp on the ground. The ferocious dragon only stopped when a beam of light whipped out from behind them and yanked the tiny monster back, "Cyberdramon! Stand down! I said stop! STOP!"

Rika followed the voice to see a spiky haired boy dressed in a mishmash of rags and metal armor topped neatly by a red scarf bellowing commands at the digimon. In his hand was a digivice just like theirs, but black and pulsing with light, "Cyberdramon! Sit! I said! SIT!"

With that last command, the boy slammed his digivice on the ground and brought Cyberdramon onto his knees. Once the digimon was restrained, he took a deep breath and asked them, "Sorry about that. Cyberdramon gets a little over excited. He can't help himself when he sees a fight. Anyway, what's going on here?"

Rika did a double take to make sure she wasn't imagining things. As many times as she looked, there was no mistaking it - it was Ryo. The boy who went missing. Her mind raced with questions as it tried to understand this. Had he been here the whole time? What had he been doing? Who was Cyberdramon? What the hell was he wearing?

Before she could try to ask, Hagurumon and Clockmon chose this specific time to come back from wherever they'd run to, "It's him! The Digimon Tamer has come to save us!"

The Digimon Tamer? That dumb name Takato had insisted they don't call him? Why was Ryo getting called that? He wasn't actually the Digimon Tamer, was he? Ryo grunted as they continued to cheer him, "Don't call me that. I hate that guy."

"But how could you hate yourself? You're the hero of the Digital World!" Clockmon cheered, "Where's WarGreymon!?"

"Okay, I'm ignoring you. What happened?" he asked Hagurumon. The floating gear spun gleefully and gestured at the clock, "They unbroke the clock that kept Megadramon in perpetual slumber! Now he awakens to destroy our world. And more importantly, my rock collection!"

"That's a lot of words just to say fixed an alarm clock," Ryo said, making his way to the clock and punching its face as hard as he could. The clock chimed for a moment before making its loud ticking noise again, prompting Hagurumon and Clockmon to cheer even louder, "Hurrah! The Digimon Tamer saved us!"

"Please stop," Ryo moaned quietly before properly taking note of the others. He took one glance at the digivice in Rika's hand and pointed, "Wait! That digivice! Are you a human like me? Are you a rescue party!?"

"Rescue party?" Rika repeated, confused and a little annoyed that he didn't even seem to recognize her. Kazu jumped between them and pointed at Ryo with his mouth so wide open it looked ready to fall off his face, "You! You're Ryo Akiyama! The Ryo Akiyama! The Digimon Card tournament champion!"

"Yeah, that's me," Ryo nodded, brushing past their recognition of his name to once again ask, "So are you the rescue party or did you get sucked here by Tamer too? Because if it's the first, how do we get out of here? And if it's the second, point me at him so I can kill him."

"Tamer? Oh you mean Takato!" Kazu answered, "He's been falling himself The Digimon Tamer for a while now. Personally, I think he took a few too many hits to the head. Anyway, forget about that. What's the Digimon King doing here? I bet you're kicking butt and taking names!"

"Actually I've been waiting for a rescue or something close to it. And it sounds like you guys aren't it. Thanks for getting my hopes up," Ryo frowned turning to go until he stopped and looked back at Rika, "I hate to be weird, but you look really familiar. Do we know each other?"

He'd forgotten her! What the hell? She should've known better than to think anything of this guy. She was about to tell him off when Kazu wrapped an arm around him, "That's Rika! She's the Digimon Queen, second only to you in the card game! You recognize her, right? You must've kicked her butt a lot in the tournament!"

The look on his face was absolutely priceless. If Kenta's camera worked, she would've taken a photo of him as he pointed at her in disbelief, "Rika? But...you're so young!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rika was annoyed now. Ryo threw up his hands defensively, "Wait, I mean...the Rika I knew should be in her thirties by now! I haven't seen her in twenty years! How...I mean...you haven't aged a day."

"Twenty years? Ryo! You've been gone since Christmas. It's only been a couple of months!" Rika corrected him, watching the look of surprise on his face twist between what must have been a torrent of emotions for him. There was also a look of longing in his eyes, like he wanted something but was unable to get it. It unnerved her and made her take a step back, "What? Take a picture! It'll last longer."

"Sorry, it's just...been such a long time for me," Ryo offered sheepishly, "I wasn't sure I'd ever see any one from our world ever again. What are you even doing here?"

"We're on a rescue mission," Kenta answered excitedly, "One of our friends got kidnapped and we're trying to find him! But there was a beam of light and we got separated from the rest of our group. So now we're just trying to find each other again."

"Well then you're in luck," Ryo gave them a thumbs up and pointed at himself, "I've picked up a thing or two since I've been stuck here for the last twenty years. There's a place nearby where we can go find your friends. It's called the Hallowed Bastion - some kinda old castle with sensors all over the Digital World. Let's go!"

Today had just taken a really strange turn and Rika was hating every minute of it. On the other hand, they'd found the last person she expected to run into. The last person she expected to find. And maybe he'd be able to help them. Worse case scenario was they'd get stuck here forever. She could think of worse company to be with.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our team has met a new member, Ryo! But will they find their way back to the others? Will they find Andromon? What are the others up to at this moment? And how much longer can Rika put up with the madness before she snaps? Find out all this and more in three weeks due on September 13th at 5 PM CDT! Let me know what you guys think in the comments! And don't forget to bookmark the story to keep up with updates and kudo the story to show support! That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "So how does this work? Is it immediate or - CONTROL ACHIEVED! NOW WE RIDE! FIND STRONGER! KILL ALL ELSE! Yeah, I don't think so. Also, why do you sound like Rika? IMPOSSIBLE! CONTROL HAS BEEN OVERRIDDEN! SURRENDER TO MY WILL! I AM THE BEAST! With all that shouting, I don't doubt it. YOU WILL RESPECT MY WILL! Don't tell me how to live my life. It's my body and it's my choice!"
> 
> It was weird. Like hearing Takato talk to himself but one voice was screaming at the top of his lungs and the other was just Takato.
> 
> "Tamer, what's happening?" Leomon shouted at him. Takato answered, "The demon motorcycle is trying to take over my brain, I think. It's not very good at it. I HEARD THAT! That's because I said it as loud as I could. YOU WILL BREAK BEFORE ME BOY! Boy? I'm older than you, I think! Also you look really familiar, have we seen each other before? HOW DO YOU RESIST! BREAK! BREAK! BREAK! Not with that attitude, I won't. Maybe you ought to try asking nicely? It's not going to hurt. AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"


	25. Motorcycle Nightmare

 

Henry ran up and down the sand where their friends has been a moment before, "Crap! Where'd they go? We have to find them!"

He was about to chase after the beam of light when Leomon grabbed a hold of his shoulder, "No dice! Do you have any idea what'll happen if you just jump in that? There's no guarantee that you'll go where they did. You could end up anywhere! And what good will you do them then?"

"We can't just leave them!" Henry argued back, amazed that the lion was barely breaking a sweat as he tried to get free. In fact, the lion lifted him up into the air casually, dangling in front of his face, "Don't worry. They have Renamon and Andromon with them. I can't think of anyone better to have at your side. Those two can take care of them. What's important now is that we keep a level head."

"Moumantai, Henry!" Terriermon patted his partner. Juri looked to Takato, who was still staring off into space silently and tapped on his shoulder to snap him out of it. He didn't react. It took Guilmon nuzzling him with his snout to finally snap him out of it, "Huh? Oh, hi boy."

"Are you out of your funk, now?" Terriermon asked gesturing at the beam of light as it moved along the desert sand, "Because we've already run into a serious problem and I'm pretty sure you didn't even notice."

"Sorry, what's going on?" Takato looked between them in confusion, finally noticing half of their group were not present, "Where'd everyone go?"

Terriermon chuckled at being proven right while Leomon groaned in frustration. He really hadn't noticed their friends getting sucked up into the pillar of light! Juri pointed him towards the ever growing distant beam of light and explained, "They got sucked up into this beam of light that went past us!"

Takato raised an eyebrow in surprise, tracing the beam of light skyward, "Beam of light? From what? It's not connected to anything! It just…sort of goes up forever."

He traced its path with its finger up the sky until he was pointing straight up, "Well, crap that is a problem. They could be anywhere. They could even be in a completely different world!"

"Yes, we know! How do we find them?" Henry demanded, "Because we're not going to find them just sitting here doing nothing! Who knows what trouble they'll get in by themselves? Especially Kazu and Kenta. And you know Rika's probably going to try and pick a fight."

"She hasn't been that bad lately," Guilmon offered in her defense.

"I think they'll be fine. They have Andromon and Renamon too. Really, the only one I'm worried about is Kazu," Takato answered sheepishly, "But if we're going to find them, we can always go to the Hallowed Bastion. I can track them from there. Come on!"

He turned on his heels and started walking off in a random direction, stopping to check his digivice, and then continued on in a slightly different direction. Guilmon raced after his partner while the rest of them swapped nervous glances. There were so many questions now and Henry asked first, "What's the Hallowed Bastion?"

"Home City of the Ancients," Leomon answered quietly, lifting Juri up on to his shoulder, "We should keep up. We don't want to fall too far behind."

"How far is it?" Terriermon asked, climbing up onto Henry's head to sit without asking. He was heavy on Henry's head, until the digimon spread out his ears to offer some make shift shade. Takato pointed ahead, "That way! Maybe a few days? Actually, we're going to stop by an old house if that's okay. I want to get something first."

"I see time has done nothing to modify your concern for others," Leomon commented quietly, something Takato chose to ignore. Juri was less sure of that statement. As far as she could think, Takato had always been trying to help others. He'd even been trying to stop fighting between other digimon! She poked Leomon's head and asked, "What does that mean, Leomon?"

The lion grimaced, "The last time I saw The Tamer, he was less concerned with the well being of others and more concerned with ensuring they fulfilled their destiny. Whatever that would be. Even if it meant forcing them to watch the people they cared for die."

None of that sounded like the Takato she knew. Then again, she realized that this wasn't even the Takato she knew. This Takato was just someone wearing his face and running around with his name. The real Takato was lost…possibly in this world. Thinking about all of this made her heart feel heavy.

And why did Leomon feel the need to bring up destiny? Did he know something she didn't? She looked back at Leomon, "How do you know all this?"

"I don't know all the details because I wasn't there, but supposedly he allowed someone's mother to die to ensure that certain events happened the way they were supposed to," Leomon answered. He looked her way and offered a small smile, "It's alarming but I've learned it's better not to worry about it. It'll make you paranoid. Make you do things that you normally wouldn't. I think another one of the digidestined said it best: destiny will work itself out either way, so why worry about it?"

That hardly made her feel better. She felt a lump forming in her throat and tried to swallow it, but couldn't it. Maybe it was just too hot and dry to do it? Yeah, that had to be it.

* * *

Impmon followed Makuramon and the hostage Calumon through the endless desert and complained, "Hey! How much farther is this place yous was talkin' 'bout?"

"Not much farther, dear Impmon," the monkey answered playfully, poking the cage he was using to hold Calumon hostage, "Isn't that right my dear little pet? Oh, what fun we'll have when I return you to Lord Zhuqiaomon!"

"I don't think I'll like your idea of fun," Calumon's voice quivered in fear. Makuramon answered by shaking the cage as violently as he could, "Oh, come now Catalyst. I'm sure you'll enjoy all the little games we'll play when we finally meet our Lord!"

"I hope you ain't expecting me to bow coz' I don' got no lords," Impmon folded his arms, growing irate the longer he followed this monkey. It was the smart decision at the time - the monkey had him in a death grip and he'd be dead if he didn't agree. But now he was wondering if death would've been the smarter choice. It would've saved him from having to listen to this monkey chatter on and on about crap he didn't care about.

A small bright light appeared in the distance, one he hadn't seen before. Impmon's eyes narrowed and he looked at Makuramon with a raised eyebrow, "What's that?"

"That is my destination. I do have a gift to present. But don't worry, Caturamon will take care of you," Makuramon cackled. Impmon didn't like the sound of that laughter and turned to see a snarling dog just inches from his face. He leapt back, preparing two balls of fire in his hands, "How'd you do that?"

"Why is that the first thing everyone asks me?" the dog asked, noticing the cage in Makuramon's hand, "Is that it?"

Makuramon held out the cage with a big old grin on his face, "Indeed it is! The catalyst given digimon form by the Sovereigns themselves! And do help this poor little fellow. His services were useful in the acquisition of our goal."

"Alright," the dog nodded, getting so close to Impmon that his breath made him gag, "Listen well, little one. I am Caturamon, servant of the Sovereigns and guardian of this area. Tell me what you seek and I will help you acquire it."

Impmon rolled his eyes, skeptical of the wish granting and keeping the fireballs close, "Hey, I ain't da wishin' type."

Caturamon grunted his disapproval, snarling at the imp before blowing out the flames in his hands. Impmon panicked and reignited another set of flames quickly only to have them blown out again. Caturamon then added, "I can do this all day idiot. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Anything you want, you can have at our lord's grace. But this offer will only come once and won't be given again. What do you want, child?"

Impmon continued staring skeptically before finally answering, "I want the same thing I've always wanted: to survive. If that means bein' strong or smart, I don't care. I want to not need anybody' or anythin'!"

Caturamon stared at the imp in surprise, and that annoyed him, "WHAT?"

"Who hurt you?" was all he asked. Impmon was taken aback by that question because of how close it hit to home, "Who says anyone hurt me?"

"No 'mon is an island," Caturamon explained, "To want no one or anything...who hurt you?"

"NOBODY!" Impmon snapped angrily. Caturamon closed his eyes, taking a long and deep breath as if to indicate his frustration. Then he sighed, "Very well. I will grant your heart's desire: but what that means is power. Power unlike any other. And only one can grant that power. The sovereign himself! Lord Zhuqiaomon."

"I told you, I ain't got no lords!" Impmon protested, suddenly finding Caturamon taller than he was a second ago. That couldn't be right. He was eye level a moment ago. Unfortunately, it took Impmon just a second too long to realize he was sinking into the ground like he were stuck in quicksand. He tried to step out of it, but the struggle only made him sink faster, "HEY! WHAT GIVES!? What kinda trick is this? Get met outta here!"

"Do not resist. All will be well," Caturamon said, failing to be any more reassuring than that stupid monkey. Impmon growled, trying to grab at Caturamon in vain to keep himself above the ever rising sand. But it was too late now. His arms were now submerged in the dirt, leaving only his flailing hands reaching desperately for something. As it made its way up to his face, he tilted his head up to keep it above the rising earth. With his last breath, he cursed the damned dog and the monkey. He cursed himself for being so careless. Darkness took him, followed by a vision of large bird wreathed in flame. Then a flash of fire swallowed him.

* * *

They walked for the rest of the day, stopping only at the end of the day to eat bread from Takato's bag and sleep out in the open. As the night grew colder, they tried to get a fire going but had nothing but the bread wrappers to burn - something that only lasted a couple of seconds before the flames burned out. So they spent that night mostly going cold - something Guilmon vocally complained about despite being in a large desert.

Juri slept by Leomon's side, since his fur and his large size made him nice and warm. Sleeping beside him reminded her of when she was younger and her dad had been more open with her. It reminded her of all the times he'd let her fall asleep on his lap while he was working or watching TV, before carrying her to bed and tucking her in for the night. It was probably her best night's sleep in a long time. When she awoke the next morning, she found that the others had also moved in to be beside Leomon at some point in the night. Maybe he was just too warm to resist in this frigid cold desert. And she was well aware how insane that sounded when she thought it out loud.

They headed out again after a quick breakfast of some more bread and hurried on in the direction Takato led them. It was another day of endless trekking through arid heat under a baking sun until they saw what looked like several small mounds in the desert. From afar, it looked like a mass of hills. But the closer they got, the more it began to resemble igloos of mud with their doors sealed shut with scrap metal.

"What is this place?" Juri asked, looking around curiously at the many huts. The place was almost like a ghost town, except ghost towns had signs people used to live there. But there were clothes hanging off clothes lines and smoke coming from the chimneys. So someone had to be living here now, right? Takato took one look around, "A village by the looks of it. Let's see if anyone's home! HELLO! Anybody here? Were friendly! I promise! Don't mind the lion! Or the dinosaur. They're the nicest. The bunny dog thing is more dangerous than they are."

"Hey!" Terriermon grumbled, sticking out his tongue at Takato and turning his head in disapproval. Takato ignored him and knocked on one of the doors. When no answer came from inside the abode, he banged harder, "Anybody? Somebody? Hello! I swear we're friendly!"

"Takato!" Henry pulled him back, "What are you doing?"

"Knocking," he answered quietly, "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"No, I mean why are you banging on the door? We don't know who lives in there!" Henry corrected him anxiously, "For all we know, it's some crazy dangerous digimon who'll eat our face."

Despite his concerns, Takato shrugged it off and patted his head, "Don't be ridiculous Henry. Only Kuwagamon do that and they tend to live under the sand, not in huts this small."

"Okay, so what if it's something else? Something that wouldn't mind eating us!?" Henry pointed out. He and Takato stared at each other for the longest time before he knocked on the door again, throwing all of Henry's concerns out the window with it. Henry groaned in frustration, just as the metallic door slid open for a little brown bear made of dirt to peek out, "Hello?"

Takato put on his cheeriest face, "Hi! We've lost some friends and are looking for them. Then again, we're also a little lost ourselves. Do you have any water or some food?"

"You're not with that demon, are you? The crazy demon motorcycle," the little brown bear asked. Takato looked back at the rest of them with a raised eyebrow, skeptically remarking, "Demon motorcycle? Don't be ridiculous! We're not with a demon motorcycle! I've seen a crazy puppet, statues comes to life, and even world ending monsters from outside reality and not once have I ever seen a demon motorcycle!"

"What kinda digimon is that?" Juri pointed at the brown bear, "I've never seen one before like this."

"Chuchidarumon. They're a subtype or Frigimon only made with mud instead of ice and snow," Takato answered knowledgeably, "They're a really docile digimon too. Normally friendly. This motorcycle must have you guys really spooked if you're locking all your doors!"

"Get away from the door! If the motorcycle sees you, it'll come back!" a voice rang out from inside the hut. The door slammed shut after that, followed by the unmistakable sound of the click of several locks. Terriermon frowned, "Well that was rude."

"What do you suppose they mean by demon motorcycle?" Leomon asked. Henry shrugged and pointed out, "More importantly, why do they keep talking about the motorcycle and not the rider? I'd think the rider is more dangerous."

"Does anyone else hear that?" Takato asked, holding up a finger for complete silence. Juri closed her and cupped a hand to her ears, hearing only the distant sound of the wind blowing past. She opened her eyes and answered, "I don't hear anything."

Terriermon's ears perked up and he added, "I do! It's like a...a rumble."

"Something's coming," Guilmon added, lifting up his nose to sniff the air. Juri closed her eyes again and tried to listen carefully. Nothing. No wait, there was something. A soft hum or rumble. Like an engine. A motorcycle engine! And it was getting closer and louder. Turning her head towards the noise, she saw the unmistakable shape of an unridden motorcycle roaring their way with no one riding upon it. And the headlight of this motorcycle flashed a grim blood red as it raced towards them, like a singular eye pierced into their very being to judge them. She gasped and Leomon groaned, "You've gotta be kidding me! They were serious!? A demon motorcycle!?"

"Oh, that is new," Takato said almost too gleefully, "A self driving motorcycle!"

"Uh...it's coming right at us," Henry pointed out.

"We should run," Terriermon added, pulling on Henry so that he would turn and start moving. Everyone did just that, hurrying towards one of the huts and climbing on top of the mounds to avoid the rampaging vehicle. At first, it seemed they would be safe but that did nothing to slow the machine down or hinder it as it rammed at full speed into the side of the hut. It shook violently, Juri grasping on to her partner for dear life while he dug his sword into its side to anchor them. The others were hardly fairing any better, trying to keep from getting knocked off and hanging on only by digging their hands straight into the mud. The hut shook one more time and motorcycle emerged from the other side, throwing a Chuchidarumon forward onto the ground and running it over. The digimon let out a single pained cry before disappearing into data. During that brief moment the motorcycle passed under them, Juri swore she saw what looked like a small metallic rabbit riding on its seat - so small that it was hardly noticeable. In fact, it was smaller than Calumon of all things. And it didn't look to have any arms or legs! How was it driving the motorcycle?

The motorcycle turned on its spot and revved its engine at them, producing a loud roar as it charged again. This time, it raised up its front wheel to transfer its momentum and raced up the side of the hut.

"JUMP!" Takato shouted, as they all leapt off the hut in time for the motorcycle to fly past them and land on the other side. Leomon kept Juri on his shoulder, "Hang tight, Juri. This motorcycle really is a demon!"

"No, there's someone riding it!" Juri pointed out, "A little rabbit thing!"

"A rabbit?" Takato repeated, eyeing the motorcycle carefully. It had already regained its footing and was readying itself again, rushing their way. Takato ran in front of them and shouted, "HEY! LOOK AT ME! COME AND GET ME!"

"TAMER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Leomon roared out, rushing forward to stop the boy. The motorcycle had already turned though and was rushing right at him. Takato continued onward though, flailing his arms above his head, "That's right! Over here! Come and get me!"

"What is he doing!?" Juri gasped, closing her eyes to avoid seeing what she thought she was going to see. There was a loud thump and soft crash. Her heart stopped. The only person who had any idea how to get them back had just thrown himself in front of a motorcycle! They were doomed! Royally doomed. She peeked her eyes open a little to see Takato on the sand, cradling something in his arms as he looked over his shoulder at the motorcycle continuing into the distance. Now with Guilmon riding upon it. As he stood up, Juri could make out the metallic rabbit in Takato's arms and it weakly apologized, "I'm sorry! I saw everything. As soon as I was on the seat, I lost all control. It was like the motorcycle was making me do those things!"

"It's alright, MetalKoromon," Takato assured the little bunny and stroking its head. He handed the digimon over to Leomon and announced, "Do you mind holding this? I need to go save Guilmon!"

" _HERE I COME TAKATOMON_!" Guilmon roared at the top of his lungs, turning the motorcycle to face him. There was something off now about the red dinosaur, something different about him. Almost like he was possessed. MetalKoromon urged Takato, "Don't do it! If that motorcycle gets you, it's all over! All it wants is to find stronger riders! As soon as it does, it kicks off whoever is on it and kills everything else. Please! Don't do it!"

"I'm not letting anything happen to Guilmon," Takato said, adjusting his goggles over his head to cover his eyes. He looked back at Leomon and declared, "Be ready to knock me off as soon as you can!"

"What are you going to do?" Henry asked. Takato shrugged, "Get on the motorcycle, see what happens, maybe take it for a ride afterwards."

He ran forward again and Henry groaned, "What's with the throwing himself in danger act? Is he crazy or stupid?"

"We all know it's both," Terriermon remarked.

The motorcycle revved again, and Guilmon shouted, "YOU'RE ALL MINE NOW!"

"Then come get me!" Takato shouted back, standing in front of the motorcycle with his arms wide open. The motorcycle roared its engine and charged in again, going faster than it had before. Still, Takato didn't move. Just as she was sure he'd get run over this time, the motorcycle's brakes shrieked as it slid to a stop in front of him. It idled there with Guilmon staring Takato down, " _YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT!_ "

"Yeah, I'm right in front of you. No need to shout. Or be rude," Takato rubbed his ear. He stepped onto the side of the motorcycle and took hold of the handle bars. Immediately, Guilmon fell off in a daze so that Takato could get on the seat. He was hilariously small on its large frame, scooting as far forward as he could to grab both the handle bars and the foot rests, "So how does this work? Is it immediate or - _CONTROL ACHIEVED! NOW WE RIDE! FIND STRONGER! KILL ALL ELSE!_ Yeah, I don't think so. Also, why do you sound like Rika? _IMPOSSIBLE! CONTROL HAS BEEN OVERRIDDEN! SURRENDER TO MY WILL! I AM THE BEAST!_ With all that shouting, I don't doubt it. _YOU WILL RESPECT MY WILL!_ Don't tell me how to live my life. It's my body and it's my choice!"

It was weird. One second, Takato was screaming at the top of his voice and the next he spoke with the calm he'd shown before. And he was arguing with himself using the two voices.

"Tamer, what's happening?" Leomon shouted at him. Takato answered, "The demon motorcycle is trying to take over my brain, I think. It's not very good at it. _I HEARD THAT!_ That's because I said it as loud as I could. _YOU WILL BREAK BEFORE ME BOY!_ Boy? I'm older than you, I think. Also you look really familiar, have we seen each other before? _HOW DO YOU RESIST!? BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!_ Not with that attitude, I won't. Maybe you ought to try asking nicely? It's not going to hurt. _AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! I WILL RUN YOU DOWN!"_

"Is it safe to get close?" Henry asked aloud. Takato shot him a dirty look and roared, " _TRY IF YOU CAN MEAT BAG! TOUCH MY TREADS! I DARE YOU!_ It's probably safe. I still have control over the finer motor functions so it's not like it can make me rev the handle bar. _WHY WON'T YOU SUBMIT?_ You didn't say please. _SO YOU WILL IF I DO?_ I didn't say that. _I HATE YOU SO MUCH! GET OFF!_ But I just got comfortable."

Henry stared at him quietly before asking the obvious question, "Okay, so what happens now that you're on there? If we knock you off, does the motorcycle just topple over or does it start moving on its own?"

" _WHY DON'T YOU COME CLOSER AND FIND OUT MEAT SACK! LET ME RUN YOU OVER! KILL! KILL! KILL!_ Don't be rude. Those are my friends and you should treat them with respect. _THEY CAN RESPECT MY TREADS! KILL THEM ALL! YES! KILL THEM ALL!_ Okay, that's totally uncalled for. And I don't know, Henry. It's not going anywhere so I think I'm in control of it but who knows what'll happen," Takato replied with a shrug. Leomon readied his sword and marched over to Takato, quietly answering, "There's only one way to find out. Hah!"

He swung it as hard as he could so that the flat end of the blade struck Takato in the chest. The boy grunted, thrown off the bike and landing beside it with a frown, "Wow! What a trip! I'd do it again if I didn't have to fight a killer bike for control of my own body. Now where did you come from? I mean...you weren't here last time I was in the Digital World. Another world? Another version of the Digital World? What's your story?"

"Not knowing things seems to be a theme for you, doesn't it?" Terriermon observed. All eyes were on the motorcycle now as it sat there unmoving. Its engine was still running despite having no rider, but it had lost all ability to propel itself forward without a rider to steer or keep it balanced. Then it toppled over into the sand. Guilmon sniffed the motorcycle and Takato dusted himself off, "Well, that's that. We should not do that again."

"We? That was all you, Takato," Henry slapped his back, then looked back down at the motorcycle. They were all thinking the same thing, even though they weren't saying it. They should probably destroy it. Leomon raised his sword above his head, "Well, let's finish this!"

"Wait!" Takato interrupted, "If we destroy this, someone's going to need to absorb its data. The last thing we need is for its data to get loose into the Digital world! Who knows what kind of damage that could do if all that...killing intent ended up scattered. It might drive us all crazy. Or, worse, it could just mean the motorcycle reformats somewhere else. And then we'll be right back where we started."

"Are you sure about any of that?" Leomon asked, poking the motorcycle with the pointy end of his sword. The motorcycle revved its engine in protest but that just made Leomon jab it harder. Everyone else leapt back in surprise, covering their ears as it roared even louder. Terriermon commented, "I guess it's still kicking."

"But it doesn't look like it can do anything without a rider so who cares?" Henry pointed out. The motorcycle continued to rev its engine in protest, trying in vain to do something other than just lay on the ground. The noise started to draw attention though as the mud bear digimon started to emerge from their huts en masse to see the motorcycle for themselves. One of them looked at it, "Is it…is it beaten?"

"Looks like it," Leomon said, continuing to poke it with his sword, "As long as no one else climbs on it, it'll just lay there and gather dust."

That announcement drove the motorcycle into a rage as it started roaring its engine as loud as it could, making its rear wheel spin so fast that it began to spin in place on the ground. The Chuchidarumon retreated away in terror until Leomon jabbed his sword between the spikes of the rear wheel to stop it from spinning. The sword made a sickening grinding noise as the wheel became stuck on the sword and the engine finally died. Takato pointed at the motorcycle, "Are you done throwing a tantrum? Because it's not going to help you get out of your situation. And it's not going to make us help you get up. So why not stop with this and-"

As Takato continued to lecture the motorcycle, another soft rumble caught their attention. Juri clung on to Leomon, "Earthquake!"

"Not an earthquake! A sink hole!" Takato said, moving back from the motorcycle as the ground opened up just ahead of them. As they retreated away, the hole widened large enough to swallow the motorcycle into it. About a meter down into the hole was a layer of boiling hot magma that consumed the motorcycle. The motorcycle revved its in engine, creating a horrible grinding noise as it sank into the molten crag and burst into flame. One of the Chuchidarumon threw a rock at it as it sank in, "Good riddance!"

"That stupid thing has been terrorizing us for weeks! We could only leave our homes for a few moments at a time before it came to attack us!" another added, "Thank goodness it's all over."

Juri shared that sentiment - watching Takato go half insane like that was terrifying. What would possess the motorcycle to even behave like that? Why was it so driven to destroy everything? What had the Digital World ever done to it to make it like that?

The earth began to rumble again, and the surface of the lava began to ripple outwards until the motorcycle emerged. It flew out of the pit that had opened in the ground, driven by a new rider - a tall man wearing all leather under black armor. It wore a violet mask over its face, concealing everything but three glaring eyes full of blood thirsty glee. The rider cheered, "OH YEAH! THIS IS POWER, RIGHT HERE! REAL POWER! OH, I CAN FEEL IT! ALL OF IT! LISTEN UP! I AM BEELZEMON, RIDER OF THE BEHEMOTH, KING OF THE DIGITAL WORLD, DESTROYER OF WORLDS, AND WRECKER OF YOUR SHIT!"

"Well now I've seen everything and I hate it," Takato threw up his hands in frustration, "I mean what did I miss? The Digital World is a lot more surreal than I remember."

"He smells familiar," Guilmon sniffed in the Beelzemon's direction, "He smells like…Impmon."

Juri squinted her eyes at Beelzemon, unsure there was a resemblance between the digimon. She had only seen Impmon once, and this was definitely not him. But Guilmon seemed to recognize him. Takato blinked and pointed at the digimon in disbelief, "That's Impmon? He's a lot taller than I remember."

"Wait, Impmon is the one who kidnapped Calumon, right?" Henry pointed out. Beelzemon grunted, "Hmph."

"Where is he!?" Terriermon shouted, "Don't you know what you did by giving him over to the Devas!"

"So what? That ain't my problem," Beelzemon growled, revving the engine of the motorcycle. Takato snapped his fingers, "I got it! You're infected by the motorcycle! It's in your head and making you exceptionally violent! We just got to fix that and knock you off."

"Knock me off? What? Are you mockin' me!?" Beelzemon roared. He cracked his knuckles and reached for a strap on the side of the motorcycle, producing a double barreled shotgun which he cocked by spinning it in his hand. He pointed it straight at them, "I'll show you! TAKE THIS!"

"DUCK!" Takato shouted, diving onto Guilmon and pushing him to the ground. Henry followed suit, holding Terriermon close as he dove for the dirt. Leomon followed suit, removing her from his shoulder and hugging her tight as he leapt for safety behind one of the buildings. All of the Chuchidarumon ran away in a panic, running into their homes for safety while Beelzemon roared, "THAT'S RIGHT YOU LITTLE SHITS! RUN! RUN AWAY! AH-HA-HA-HA!"

"So did he always swear this much or is that just the motorcycle?" Terriermon asked, watching Beelzemon rev the engine again as he turned the motorcycle towards them. He grinned ear to ear and revved his engine one more time before turning away from them. He raised his middle finger at them and rode off into the distance, taking one last chance to shout, "I DIDN'T NEED HUMANS' THEN AND I DIDN'T NEED 'EM NOW! SCREW YOU DWEEBS!"

"Well, at least we know Impmon's safe," Takato said dryly, taking a moment to dust the sand off himself before helping his partner up. Guilmon frowned, "He seemed really mad. I hope he's not mad at us."

"I doubt it," Takato frowned, "We got two choices: go after him to find Calumon or keep going to the Bastion to find the others."

Juri didn't like the fact that they had two equally difficult choices to make in front of them and frowned at Henry's answer, "That shouldn't even be a question. We find Rika and the others, then we go after Beelzemon. Besides, without Calumon, none of our digimon can digivolve. We'll need as many of us together as we can to stand a chance. Rika's our best fighter and Juri's still new to all this. No offense, Juri."

"None taken," Juri waved it off, putting on her biggest smile while feeling more useless than she had a in a while. Leomon was probably the strongest digimon on their team right now, and she hadn't done anything with him. Rather, he'd taken initiative on everything. She felt like a horrible partner right now.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They lost one set of friends, and promptly lost another they were looking for. What will Takato's group do now? Are Rika and the others alright? What about their families in the Human World? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next Friday September 20th at 5 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys think in the comments section! Don't forget to kudo the story to show support and to bookmark to keep up with all the latest updates! That's all I have for now, so let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> She removed her backpack and thrust it into Kazu's hands, "Besides, Renamon and I have practically carried you guys since we got here anyway."
> 
> Kazu groaned and dropped the bag, "What's your deal with me? It's like you personally enjoy crapping on me!"
> 
> Rika put a hand on her hips and raised her eyebrows grumpily, and the boy quickly picked the bag back up in a panic.
> 
> "Well, you do make it easy for her," Kenta answered. Ryo stopped in his tracks to look at Rika, staring unblinkingly at her. She wished he would stop doing that, "What?"


	26. The Hallowed Bastion

 

Rika walked along behind the rest of the group, leering at Ryo as he was bombarded with questions from both Kazu and Kenta. Partially because she was annoyed that he'd forgotten her, and partially because she couldn't believe this was where he'd been after all this time. More than that, she hadn't forgotten how Hagurumon and Clockmon addressed him. They called him The Digimon Tamer. She thought back to everything that had happened - everything from the books, everything from Ryo's disappearance. He insisted he wasn't, but the digimon they'd encountered identified him as such. And he seemed to fit the description from both Renamon and the book - a great warrior, someone who subverted expectations, could think quickly and creatively, and seemed to be more in control of situations than he was willing to let on.

She hated to think it, but it seemed that Ryo really was the one called The Digimon Tamer. And his partner - Cyberdramon. A digimon so strong, he was able to stay at the Ultimate level without slowing down or losing speed. Something that both Kazu and Kenta brought up with their constant questioning.

"So where did you meet Cyberdramon, anyway?" Kenta gestured towards the hulking dragon a few behind him, "He's not a digimon I've ever heard of. And he's kinda scary - sorta weird for a guy like you to have for a partner."

"That's because he's not your average digimon. He's one of a kind - a weaker form of a much more dangerous digimon called Milleniummon. He was tough, but I worked together with some…well…help to beat him. I've been stuck trying to rein him in ever since," Ryo answered with a bitter tone, quietly grumbling about having to explain, "Cyberdramon is okay when he's calm. It's when his bloodlust comes out that he becomes unbearable. All he wants to do is kill and destroy everything he sees. It's all I can do to just keep him in check, and even then I can't contain him from destroying stuff around him."

"But a digimon that strong took on Megadramon on his own! That's got to be worth it!" Kazu pointed out ecstatically, "Man, what I wouldn't give to have a partner like that."

"You really don't," Ryo frowned, gesturing ahead at his partner, "He's probably the strongest digimon at his level, but he's got the anger of ten digimon at his level. Besides, don't you guys have partners?"

"Nah, we're just here to help out the others," Kazu answered gleefully. Ryo raised an eyebrow, "Like carrying their stuff? Or are you acting like bait? Just asking because I'm not sure how you guys are helping."

Kazu was not prepared for that response, nor was he prepared for Rika to happily point out, "Yeah, and some help you've been. Renamon and I have done most of the work since we got separated from Juri and the others. But I like the idea of them carrying out stuff!"

She removed her backpack and thrust it into Kazu's hands, "Besides, Renamon and I have practically carried you guys since we got here anyway."

Kazu groaned and dropped the bag, "What's your deal with me? It's like you personally enjoy crapping on me!"

Rika put a hand on her hips and raised her eyebrows grumpily, and the boy quickly picked the bag back up in a panic.

"Well, you do make it easy for her," Kenta answered. Ryo stopped in his tracks to look at Rika, staring unblinkingly at her. She wished he would stop doing that, "What?"

"Sorry," Ryo averted his gaze and ran a hand through his hair nervously, ending at the back of his neck which he scratched nervously, "I just can't believe it's only been a few months. It's been years for me. I know. I counted the days. And…it's hard to find the right words…if I'm having a hard time talking to you, it's because I don't know what to say. I don't know what I'm going to say to my parents."

She understood that better than she wanted to admit - with her dad having been absent for a long time and her relationship with her mom not…in the best of places before he came back. Compared to him, her time gap hardly seemed to be worth mentioning. So she flicked his forehead, "I wouldn't think about it. Otherwise, you'll just make it weird. And stop staring at me, creep. It's freaking me out. How much further do we have to go? I'm sick of walking through desert. I bet the digidestined didn't have to walk through this much heat."

She was careful to leave out the part about her parents being digidestined, and shot a death glare at both Kenta and Kazu when they tried to open their mouths. Ryo pointed across miles of desert to a cloud of fog in the distance, "Over there. Once we get into the fog, we're probably another day's walk away. Then we can use the computers there to find your friends."

"What's up with all that fog? I thought this was a desert!" Kazu groaned, already cramping under the weight of the second backpack he had to carry.

Kenta patted his shoulder, "It snowed on us a couple of nights ago. Why should the fog be any weirder?"

"I don't know, man. This place is just messing with my head," Kazu grunted, struggling to keep up with them.

Kenta added, "Kazu, basic math messes with your head! I mean, you don't even do your own homework!"

"We've all been avoiding our homework! Right, Rika?" Kazu looked to her for support only to be shot down, "What are you talking about? I've been doing it while you guys are sleeping!"

It was a bold lie but she knew it would annoy him.

"What!? Dude, let me copy off you!" Kazu shouted, failing to see the obvious flaw with that. Kenta had to pull him back and explain, "Kazu, she doesn't go to our school."

"I miss school. And homework. Never thought I'd say that," Ryo laughed from ahead of them, not noticing that they were now silent. Kazu was the first to ask, "You're not serious right? I mean, who misses homework?"

"Well, when you spend years fighting for your life in another world, it's amazing what you start to miss," Ryo explained with a half smile, "I mean, if you told me I would miss doing my chores one day, I'd think you were crazy too. But it's not just my chores or my homework. I miss my parents, my family, my bed, home cooked meals, TV, internet, computers, school, my friends. Everything. You know what I mean, right Rika?"

Rika looked away when he looked at her, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She did, but she wasn't going to admit to anything in front of Kazu or Kenta. Renamon looked like she was about to add something but stopped instead to laugh. Which was good because she could've said any number of embarrassing things right then. Rika didn't want to think about Kenta and Kazu knowing anything about her that they didn't need to know.

* * *

They continued on straight into the fog, which was so thick that they could barely see more than an arm's length ahead of them. On Ryo's insistence, they walked along with one arm on each other's shoulders so that they wouldn't get separated. In this dense fog, it was a surprise anyone could navigate. But Ryo would stop on occasion to look at his digivice before pressing on. The Digital World became deathly silent, marked only by the sound of their feet shuffling along the sand. Even the wind seemed to die in this thick fog.

Eventually, they heard noises echoing around them. Faint whispers that were indiscernible and what sounded like sobs mixed with moaning. But all of that was nothing compared to the overwhelming sense of dread she got. Every time a noise passed, Ryo would stop in his tracks and change his course slightly before pressing on. Eventually, it became too much for Rika, "Hey Ryo! What is this fog? It's giving me the creeps."

It took a long time to give his answer, "It's better not to think about it. The Digital World is a terrible place and not everything that dies comes back. And it doesn't get absorbed either. Sometimes, the data just…gets stuck."

"What? No way! We've seen digimon turn to data and this is way too thick to be that," Kazu said disbelievingly. Ryo was quiet a little while longer before adding, "If you want to sleep tonight, you won't think on it any more than you just did. But…this is why I don't like The Digimon Tamer and I wish digimon would stop calling me that name. Because this…was partially him."

Rika looked around at this fog, the weight of everything Ryo said now beginning to make sense in her head. This was the result of the war she'd read about in the book and…if it was true…this was the result of the Digimon Tamer. These were dead digimon. And goggle head…Takato…caused it. And if the book was also right, the murmurs she was hearing was also the half deleted remains of some digimon in unbelievable agony begging for a death that wasn't going to come. Because The Digimon Tamer refused to give them the mercy. She shivered.

They proceeded further into the fog until they saw the distant shape of a barren old castle atop a craggy rock face appear in the distance. It ascended just high enough to escape the fog of digimon data and, looking out on the plains from above. The sheer size gave context for just how expansive the fog was, and they could finally see how far the fog went. It reached out for miles in every direction, disappearing into the horizon. Whatever this war was, it seemed the books really gave no context for just how devastating the scale was. How many digimon must've died here…at this place…to make such a wide cloud of data. And the castle itself was hardly inviting. It was almost evil to look at, marked by the statues of Devidramon leering down at the courtyard below.

"Here we are! This is the Hallowed Bastion!" Ryo said with arms outstretched for them - as if he expected them to marvel at how outright terrifying this place was, "Stick close to me and try not to get lost. This place will mess with your head."

"Whoa sweet! Check out the Devidramon!" Kazu said excitedly, pointing out the chipped statues lining the courtyard. Ryo ushered them forward, "Don't get too close. They shoot lasers from their eyes. And Stick together guys! Come on!"

He led them past the entryway and further into the castle. It lived up to its evil exterior. Inside was dim and drab, illuminated only by dying candles and flickering lights. What little they could see revealed dusty hallways, thick cobwebs, and tattered decorations scattered everywhere. In spite of that Renamon craned her neck at every possible sight as she took it all in, "To think we'd ever stand in the home of the Guardians of Destiny themselves."

That marvel turned to surprise when they entered a nonsensically large room with what looked like a single walkway bridging an infinite void of twisting corridors and stairs. Just looking out on the empty space around them made Rika sick to her stomach and her head spin. At least at first. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw multiple staircases and walkways spiraling and twisting into the void. Occasionally, they would disappear and reappear without warning. Kenta gasped at the sight of it, excitedly asking, "Is this an Escher maze?"

"I don't know what that is but if you mean this mess, then sure!" Ryo said, "It took me forever to figure out my way around this place and I don't want have to figure out how to find any of you guys if we get separated. Just hang on and don't let go until we're on the other side. And...uh...sorry if this next part is weird. We're going to have to go over the edge. And then some other stuff."

"What?" was all Rika managed to get out before Ryo grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the guard rail and over the edge. She felt like she was falling, but only for a second before she felt herself standing upright. They were still on the bridge. But that couldn't be right. That shouldn't even have been possible. They walked right over the edge of the walkway. They should've been falling. Instead, they were still on the walkway. Behind her, she heard Kazu and Kenta groaning like they were sick. Kenta was the first to manage to speak, "Oh man, what the hell was that? I think my stomach's in my mouth."

"At least it's still in you. My stomach feels like it's back wherever we were," Kazu groaned. She was glad her stomach was stronger than theirs, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for them as she was left to wonder just what they were experiencing to feel like this. Ryo was quick to apologize, "Sorry guys. I know it sucks."

"Why aren't you messed up by this?" Kazu groaned.

"Because he's been here long enough and he's done this enough that it doesn't affect him as much," Renamon answered for him. Cyberdramon grunted his approval of her answer before growling impatiently. Ryo sighed, "Just try to power through. We've got a lot more of these to go."

"Oh man!" was all either of them managed to get out before they were dragged along by Ryo through more jumps and odd sidesteps that made the world around them shift and change even though it seemed like they were staying on the same walkway they had been before. At some point, it became too much for even Rika as her stomach started to turn with unease. It wasn't until they were suddenly on the other end of the walkway that Ryo finally stopped dragging them along and said, "Okay, we're on the other side. You guys rest up before we carry on. It should be safe now, as long as we don't go back."

"Please...tell us...we don't have to do that again," Rika groaned, before going to the edge of the walkway to puke uncontrollably. Kazu and Kenta joined her in puking over the edge, only to watch their puke disappear from existence and reappear on some stairs on the other end of the room. Kenta was the first to look up, "Why did we have to do that?"

"This room is a defense mechanism. It's made so that you can only go through it a certain way. If you don't follow the only path through, you could end up falling for eternity or worse," Ryo answered. Rika would've raised an eyebrow if she wasn't so busy puking her guts out, looking at him in disbelief, "What could be worse than what we just went through?"

Ryo opened his mouth to answer, before pausing and picking up a stone from the ground. He cast it over the edge and they watched it fall for some distance. It only fell for a few seconds before several beams of light shot out of the room at different angles and vaporized the rock. Then Ryo finally answered, "That's the bastion's defense mechanism. It was designed to keep this place safe from any invaders. Invaders would get trapped in this room trying to find their way to the other side, and anyone straying too far from the safe paths gets vaporized."

"Then how did you figure it out?" Kazu asked, looking up briefly before puking over the edge again. Kazu rubbed his back to help him get it out before answering, "I've been stuck here for years Kazu. Believe me, I've had nothing but time to figure it out. Mostly by trial and error. But I was here once before and that time, I had the Digimon Tamer to help guide me around. And believe me, I'm as eager to find him again as you guys are."

"I don't think you ever said, what's your deal with Takato anyway?" Kazu wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slid down the back of his guard rail. Ryo massaged the back of his neck, "I guess I didn't say, did I? Well, we've got nothing but time now. The truth is he's the reason I'm stuck here. One day I was on my computer talking about digimon, and the next thing I know I'm getting pulled into the screen. Then I woke up here in the Digital World. Wandered around for a few days before I ran into this Kuwagamon that started chasing me. That was when I met The Digimon Tamer, Agumon, Ken, and Wormmon. He said he would help us get home until we got to this place and he found out why we were in this world. That digimon I told you about before, Milleniummon, tore a hole open in reality that broke the Digital World. He said he couldn't send either of us back until we fixed it. And we did. But that was before I got sucked into this weird...other world. It took forever to find my way back. I've been trapped here ever since trying to figure out a way back to our world."

"So why the anger for The Tamer?" Renamon asked seriously. Ryo's eyes narrowed, "Because he's the reason I'm in this mess. It took me a while to understand but that guy always knows more than he lets on. He always knows more than he lets on! He will keep things from you if it means fulfilling your destiny, even if it means trapping you in another world for years against your will. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If I meet him again, I'm decking him! Hell, I'll kill him."

"Dude, harsh," was all Kazu managed to say. That was the understatement of the century. The goggle head was the reason Ryo was gone for so long. She wanted to be mad, to be angry and hate him for it. But part of her was also sure that he had no memory of any of it. Then again, with how messed up his memory was, it'd be a miracle if he remembered anything. The guy could barely keep his own head straight. Odds were, Ryo would punch him across the face and he'd just stare in confusion. All that frustration did do one thing: it settled her stomach enough for her to stand up. She looked over at Ryo who seemed genuinely angry, a sight she'd never seen before on a normally calm guy. After a few moment and deep breaths, he calmed down enough to sigh and stare at Rika. Again with that creepy, off putting stare of his, "What?"

"Nothing," He shook his head. It took a bit longer for everyone to feel okay enough to move on and they proceeded further into the castle. Now, instead of that mind-twist of a labyrinth, they were in a normal labyrinth of endlessly twisting halls that seemed to continue on forever with no sign of stopping. Once again, Rika found herself in awe of how calmly Ryo was handling the absurdity of their situation - mostly because it reminded her of the fact that he'd been trapped here for what seemed like years to him.

At the end of their long walk, Ryo guided them into a large chamber marked by computer screens on every inch of wall with several keyboards and terminals set up around it. Of the screens, only one appeared to be in any working order though and it displayed what appeared to be a map. Rika looked around the room, certain her dad would have a heart attack to see so many computers treated with such disregard. If anything, he'd probably disappear again to start fixing these. She smiled at the thought before asking, "What is this?"

Ryo blew a layer of dust off the nearest keyboard and started typing away on it. Strange characters appeared on the screen, a language she'd only seen on the ring around her digivice's screen. It further solidified the fact that whoever made these digivices was from this world, "This is The Network. At least, that's what it was the first time I was here. It was the Tamer's pet project at the time - a reality wide system to monitor the different worlds and everything going on in them. If I had to guess, someone didn't like the idea and shut it down. I don't blame them. Thankfully, they weren't thorough and I was able to savage this one. It should still tell us where your friends are."

"How can you read any of that?" Kenta asked, adjusting glasses to better view the screen and the strange characters that were displayed on it. Kazu pointed at some of the letters, "What's with the fake sci-fi language?"

"That fake sci-fi language is the language of the Ancients. And don't ask me what any of it means. I can't read it. The only reason I know what I'm doing is because I've had time to figure it out. Twenty years of being trapped here is enough time to figure out some basics. It's not like I had anything better to do besides keeping Cyberdramon in check," Ryo answered, smacking their hands away from the screen, "And don't touch that. The screen is touch sensitive. You might do something."

All it took was a few more button presses to blow up the map of the Digital World. On that map were several dots - two of them were together, three were in another part of the Digital World, and there was a sixth and seventh by themselves. Ryo gestured at the dots, "These signals are digivices. Those two are us here in the Hallowed Bastion. I'm guessing the others are your friends?"

Rika pointed, "Those three are! Right there! That's gotta be Henry, Juri, and Takato."

"But what is the other two?" Renamon asked, pointing at the lone dots. Kazu jumped, "That's got to be Andromon! He drifted down the river by himself! I hope that guy is okay."

"If that's Andromon, then who's the seventh?" Kenta gestured at it. Ryo examined it more carefully and frowned, "Its at the bottom of a lake. If your friend Andromon got carried off by a river, that's probably where he ended up."

Rika crowned, "They can't both be Andromon. So which is it?"

"Hang on," Ryo produced a marker from his pocket and started copying the map onto his sleeve. Suddenly, the dingy state of his clothes made a lot more sense. They must've been the clothes he wore when he first arrived and they'd become worn from the years. He finished his scribbles and explained, "Okay. So this one is closer than the one under the lake. We can head there first. Then go to the other one."

"What about getting back to the others?" Rika asked. Ryo pointed at their three dots and traced their movement, "It looks like they're already going to the one under the lake anyway. We can meet them there. Now we should hurry up and go."

He put his marker away and sat up, "If we hurry, we can get to the second spot before we catch up with the others when they get to the lake. Sound good to you?"

"Does that mean more walking?" Kenta asked sheepishly. Rika rolled her eyes, "No one asked you to come."

* * *

Yamaki led the exceptionally large entourage into the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, which took longer than it should've because he had to stop security from checking every single one of them before letting them through. It also didn't help that neither the 'chosen children', the 'monster maker', and the parents of the assorted kids wouldn't stop leering at him from the back. Security must have thought he was bringing his own personal execution squad with him. Once he'd convinced the guards they were harmless, he took them upstairs to the office space set aside for them if they ever decided to cooperate. And he was sure they'd be surprised by what he already he had there waiting them.

He could hear their gasps of surprise as they made their way up the glass elevator and past the different levels of the organization. One laboratory level where they had been experimenting with the technology used to create the Juggernaut, another level where they had been containing the digimon that came through for study, several offices and barracks. Finally, the elevator came to a stop at a near empty office space complete with desks and computer terminals. On the far side of the office was a large screen being attended by the others - the ones Yamaki and his team had been able to track down. They ones they'd convinced to join them.

Naturally, Zhenyu Li recognized them all right away, "Are those who I think they are?"

"After the incident with the three digimon in downtown, it was hard to keep everything secret. You and Shibumi were the last hold outs," Yamaki explained to him, watching Zhenyu quickly meet with the rest of his old team. They were the 'Founders' or 'Monster Makers' as they preferred. The team that was responsible for the creation of the digimon. And as always, they referred to each other by their nicknames which worked for him because it would save them time on code names.

First was Babel, an African-American specializing in theoretical physics and who had a thing for wearing shades at all times. Then there was Daisy, a robotics specialist currently working at MIT to develop some kind of autonomous robot. Curly was an Indian woman working for Miscatina University in India, where she taught quantum theory. And finally, there was Dolphin, a red haired American teaching as a professor at Palo Alto University who developed an odd fascination with the occult. Once introductions were out of the way, Yamaki began to explain Project Hypnos to them, "We've been monitoring the situation since the Odaiba Incident as well as the incident at Christmas several years ago. There's a subtle pattern in our world's electromagnetic spectrum that sometimes presents itself as static if observed through a radio or a television. However, if you pass it through a machine able to read the pattern like a computer or radar, the end result is clear."

As they drew closer, it became easier to tell that the screen on the far end displayed a world map brimming with moving dots. But it wasn't their world. It was different. Miss Kamiya pointed at it, "So you've got a map that's been monitoring the Digital World from here? How?"

"A lot of our equipment was reverse engineered thanks to Mister Izumi here," Yamaki gestured at the wheel chair bound man wheeling his way to the computer, "His help, coupled with what we've learned about digimon over the last few years, means that we've been readying our defenses against them. At least, that was the plan. The explosion a few nights back was the result of a power surge in our main weapon: the Juggernaut Program."

It was hard to miss their glares - why wouldn't they be? They were just told that their government had been creating weapons and forced one of their friends to make it. Thankfully, he was spared the embarrassment of talking more when Izumi decided to explain for him. His voice was hoarse, as if he were ready to break down, "It's a worm hole. It forces open a gate between our world and the Digital World. Only the gate isn't stable. Weaker digimon forms…don't survive the trip back. It rips them apart."

Izumi's wife placed a hand on his shoulders and squeezed, "Whatever you did, you had your reasons. None of this is your fault, understand?"

"I…I'm sorry," was all he managed to get out, turning his head away from the rest of them, "But I want to make it right. I think if we put our heads together, we can figure out how to get the gate to the Digital World open. But this time, we use it to save our kids."

Zhenyu Li agreed, "There's a lot of work for us to do but we need to save our kids. It's hard to believe the Digital World started off as a simulation on a computer. This…all this is just ones and zeroes on a computer! It's a kid's game based on a college project! I haven't felt this excited in a while."

"To be fair, there's a lot of this that we don't understand," Izumi offered to the confused man, "And we've been going there since we've been kids."

"Yeah, even after all of our trips, we still don't know what exactly is going on there," Ichijouji's wife added. Yamaki sighed, adjusting his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose. If they were going to work together, there was going to be a lot of information he would have to declassify - a lot he would have to fill them in on, "Our top scientists have been studying this since we captured the first ones during the Odaiba Incident. The fog that interferes with electronics whenever digimon appear isn't just normal atmospheric moisture. It's energy from across the electromagnetic spectrum modifying free molecules in the air, bringing them together and coalescing them into proteins, carbohydrates, and fats to create a physical form for the digital creatures. However, their electromagnetic signature still allows them to interfere with electronic equipment: radios, telephone signals, internet access points, traffic lights…I'm sure you've all experienced this."

"Okay, and what does any of this have to do with finding my daughter and helping her?" Izumi's wife demanded angrily. The scientist named Dolphin spoke up, "With your expertise on the subject of the Digital World and our knowledge of its base code, we should be able to pinpoint their location in the Digital World and pull them out."

"Who are you again?" she asked, a little lost on his identity. Yamaki sighed, "We can introduce ourselves again later. Right now, we have six kids lost in another world and we're going to pull them out before things get any worse."

As he said that, Mimi's device beeped again. This time, she opened it to read, " _Met another boy in the Digital World. He can help us. We're going to stick with him for a while. We'll keep you updated._ Updated? Another boy? Who are they talking about?"

"You don't think there's another Tamer running around, do you?" Sora asked. The disgust and horror on their faces was impossible to miss. Yamaki had no idea what this Tamer had done to them in the past, but he had a few ideas from the few times he talked to the kid. And he was sure none of it was good. And that just made time more pressing. Time was moving faster in the other world compared to this one. They didn't have a second to lose, "I'll get some coffee going. We've got a lot of work ahead of us if we're going to pull those kids out."

"Right now, I'm giving all of you unlimited access to all the resources Hypnos has at its disposal," Yamaki added, gesturing to the many computers around them, "Whatever you need, you have a blank check."

* * *

Makuramon knelt down before his lord and master Zhuqiaomon to present the caged Calumon for him, "I apologize for the delay, m'lord. This little buggar was more trouble than he was worth. But he's here now for you to do with as you please! The Catalyst of the Ancients!"

He looked up slightly to see the large crimson bird staring down at him, expecting some reward for his service. Instead Zhuqiaomon kept his gaze fixed on Calumon, completely ignoring him, "Are you sure? It's…kinda pathetic."

Makuramon wasn't expecting that response but raised the cage up so that his lord could get a better look, "I am sure, m'lord. The humans went through great pains to make sure we didn't acquire him!"

"What great pains, exactly?" Zhuqiaomon asked.

"They left him in the care of a little girl at their home," Makuramon said, slowly realizing how absurd he must've sounded. He quickly added, "But worry not my lord! I know this is the Catalyst because I saw it for myself. Inside this weak, pathetic thing that can barely protect itself and - I am sounding insane."

Makuramon paused to clear his throat, "Anyway, the point is: this creature holds the light of digivolution inside of it! With its power, we can finally strengthen ourselves and prepare to battle the foe."

"It's just…so small. And it looks weak," Zhuqiaomon noted, looking at it more closely. The small digimon was cowering against the back of his cage fearfully now. Makuramon wanted to join the little digimon in shaking, but did his best to keep a brave face. His master may have been tough but he was fair. He would surely be willing to show mercy if there had been a mistake. Even if it had cost the lives of half the devas at this point. After a long and drawn out silence, Zhuqiaomon eventually asked, "Can it at least release the power within so we can be sure?"

"Of course," Makuramon bowed. He jabbed the digimon in the cage, shouting, "Let out your power, little one. Show it to our lord in all his splendor that we may bathe in your power!"

Calumon shook, "That doesn't sound very hygienic and I think I want to go home now."

Zhuqiaomon grunted his disapproval and Makuramon scrambled for words, "Worry not, my master! I can take care of this! Listen you! We didn't go through all this trouble just so you could hold out on us! Let out your power! NOW!"

He shook the cage more furiously, trying to get some kind of reaction out of the little creature who could only wail in terror. Lord Zhuqiaomon groaned and turned to him, "Are you sure you're okay, Makuramon? Because I doubt this creature is it!"

Makuramon became desperate, "I swear my lord! I saw it for myself! We just have to trigger it! LET OUT YOUR POWER!"

He shook the cage and slammed it against the ground, causing a trickle of light to start streaming around the cage. He breathed a sigh of relief and held it up for Zhuqiaomon to see, "All it needed was a little gentle persuasion, see? Now, let us bathe in its li…what are you doing?"

It took him a few seconds too long to notice, but Lord Zhuqiaomon noticed the lights weren't coming from the cage right away. In fact, it was dancing around the cage. And there was more than one. Calumon stopped panicking and began playfully speaking to the lights as they continued dancing around the cage. All at once, the lights came together to pull at the cage and yank it away from him. Makuramon tightened his grip, intent on keeping it close only to find himself being lifted into the air. Or rather, the cage was being lifted and he was just along for the ride. Calumon looked down at him and smiled, "Bye bye!"

"What?"

Before he got an answer, the cage jolted so hard that Makuramon's grip slipped and he fell back to the ground. Then the cage was carried off by the lights into the distance. Makuramon's eyes widened in horrible realization as he looked form the lights to Zhuqiaomon. He expected the full wrath of the sovereign upon him. Instead, he heard the mega level digimon remark, "Well, that's new. Is it supposed to do that?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where is Calumon going? Will the digidestined and the monster makers be able to save the kids? Will the kids reunite with each other? Find out all this in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 on Friday, September 27th at 5 PM CDT. Let me know what you guys think in the comments section! And hey, don't forget to kudo the story to show support and bookmark to stay current with all the updates! Now let's see some previews for next time:
> 
> "I think he's making fun of your fur," the Palmon said to Gabumon. The Biyomon sighed, "Guys! Focus! We're looking bad in front of the intruders!"
> 
> "Intruders?" Takato scoffed in disbelief, "THIS IS MY HOUSE!"
> 
> Palmon answered by shaking Takato in place. Juri gasped and tried pleading while Leomon drew his sword, "Put them down!"
> 
> The threat of violence put the digimon on their guard and they readied themselves to attack, "We don't listen to you! Who are you and how did you find this place?"
> 
> "I lived here!" Takato spat out. The digimon looked between each other and then at Takato, "What do you mean you lived here?"


	27. Lake House

Days passed as they continued their trek through miles of desert, impeded only by the occasional random digimon coming to attack them. At least, it should have been days. It felt more like weeks with endless the endless desert heat beating down on them. They stopped only when it was dark or when they could find shelter to rest. It was simply too dangerous to be wandering in the dark or rest out in the open. Soon, desert sand turned to grassy plains and verdant forests. The air cooled the further they went until they reached a large serene lake in the middle of the forest. It was a welcome sight after spending several days wandering the desert of the Digital World.

Everyone ran straight for the water to get a fresh drink, except for Guilmon who simply dove straight in. They washed their faces and cleaned themselves up short of taking a bath. Takato was the only who didn't get into the water, opting to instead walk the water's edge and occasionally dip his toe into the water, "It should be here somewhere."

"What are you doing?" Terriermon asked, looking up from the water long enough to notice, "If you didn't pack a towel or a swimsuit, you're gonna get yourself sick jumping into the water!"

"I'm trying to find the steps," Takato answered, still dipping his foot into the water every few feet, "Wet. Wet. Wet. Wet. Dry!"

As he said that, Takato's leg disappeared into the water up to his knee without making a splash. He pulled his leg out and dunked his head into the water, staying under far too long for anyone to still be alive. Terriermon tilted his head, "Did he just drown himself?"

"He doesn't smell dead!" Guilmon sniffed the air, then made his way over to his partner to sniff his side. Then he started poking Takato's side until his head emerged from the water as dry as it had gone in, "Good news! I found the front door! Bad news! The stairs are falling apart so we might trip on our way down. Best news! There should be some beds down there we can use to rest up. Not sure if the food is still good though."

"Stairs? Beds? What're you talking about?" Henry approached the edge of the lake and dipped his shoe in. He pulled it out, inspecting the dry footwear carefully before slowly lowering his foot deeper into the water, "There's a step here!"

"Yeah! See!" Takato demonstrated by casually walking into the water and disappearing completely beneath the waves. This took the cake for all the strange things Takato had done until his hand broke the surface to wave at them. Takato climbed back out, "Are you guys coming or not? It's perfectly safe. Mostly safe. The stairs are still crumbling."

Henry paused and looked back at the rest of them quizzically. They were all looking back anxiously, none of them wanting to be the one to go down first. Realizing they weren't going to go anywhere like this, Juri took a deep breath and followed Takato's path into the water. Like he said, it was dry and she felt her shoe step on something solid. Emboldened by this, she took several more steps that slowly descended into the water until she was completely submerged. And she found a staircase descending into the depths of the lake that was surprisingly well lit. The water stopped at the sides of the stairs, held back by an invisible barrier that stopped any of the fish swimming in the water from passing through. The sight was as beautiful as it was impossible, "What is this?"

Takato put his hands to his hips and smiled cheerfully, "Ancient technology! It's...um...how did this work again? Um...oh yeah! It's called hard light! Think like a force field except you can use it to make whatever you want."

"Aren't you worried that it'll break and we'll all drown?" Juri asked nervously, tapping the side of the water and feeling something hard there. It was like a glass window. But glass could break and they couldn't breathe under water. Takato shrugged, "Not really. Why? Are you planning on breaking it?"

"No. I'm not a great swimmer, so I wouldn't even try," she answered sheepishly. Takato smiled, "Then that makes you all the braver for coming in. I see Henry and the others are still hanging out up there. That makes you braver than them."

Juri looked back up the stairs to see Henry still only knee deep into the water before forcing himself down in, followed by Terriermon, Guilmon and Leomon. Leomon looked around, jaw hanging open in awe of the sight, "Ancient technology again. It never ceases to amaze me."

Guilmon sniffed the air, "This smells familiar."

"Does it?" Takato tilted his head, jogging back up the stairs to examine his partner. He turned Guilmon's head with his hands and pried his mouth open, "It shouldn't be. You shouldn't even know what this is. This is your first time here...right?"

Guilmon pulled his head out of Takato's hands and sniffed the air, "I don't know. It smells...yummy."

Terriermon laughed, "I think he's smelling the bread in your bag. So what are we doing here? And where are we going?"

"I'm just coming here to get something," Takato said again, turning back down to the stairs and leading the way, "Don't worry, we won't be staying long. Once I find it, we can get going. Or we can stay the night, your guys' call."

"Yeah, you still haven't told us what you're getting or where these stairs go," Leomon pointed out skeptically. He groaned, "I don't mean to be cynical Tamer, but it would be nice if we knew what was going on. What does this have to do with finding the others?"

Takato stopped in his tracks, shoulders slumping quietly and he looked back up at them. There was a slight hesitation in his voice as if he was wrestling on whether or not to actually say anything, "You're right. I'm going to get...something personal. Something that might help me sort out my memories. After that, I promise we're going to go the Hallowed Bastion and find the others."

"It's amazing how little of the question that answered," Henry stated dryly, scratching the back of his head before continuing to follow Takato. They descended downward in uncomfortable silence broken only by the occasional fish slamming into the invisible barrier, until they reached the very bottom and found a small house surrounded by an old wall. It was made the traditional Japanese style, and within they found an overgrown garden marked by a stone path leading up to a sliding front door. Trees and bushes looked like they'd been hastily trimmed with the debris carelessly piled in the corners of the garden. It even had a small stream allowing fish to pass through the garden and back out into the lake. Henry glanced around at the entire structure before gasping, "Wait a second, I remember this! This is the lake house from the show!"

"That's right!" Takato said, proceeding past the entry way, "Took the digidestined here years ago when they were your age. It's been a while since I was here. It belonged to someone else and I've been taking care of it for them for a while. Or I was...then I got busy. It's odd though. It's not nearly as overgrown as I thought it would be."

"That's good, isn't it? It means you don't have to do much work," Terriermon answered. Takato nodded and proceeded towards the front door and slid it open, kicking off his shoes and calling in, "I'm back! Home sweet home! It's been ages."

"POISON IVY!"

Dozens of vines shot out of the front door and wrapped themselves around Takato, Juri, and Terriermon - raising them into the air and holding them up there. A large group of small digimon charged out to surround them - a Gabumon, a Biyomon, a Veemon, a Hawkmon, a Gatomon, an Armadillomon, a Wormmon, a Patamon, a Tentomon, and a Gomamon surrounded them from all sides. The last to appear was a Palmon standing at the front door, using her vines to hold the others up. Henry retreated behind Leomon quickly, recognizing who these digimon were but unsure he'd be able to convince them they were not dangerous. Despite the danger, Takato remarked, "Haven't been dangling upside down since the puppet in the Bastion. Are you guys going to put us down?"

"This is some hello," Terriermon added, his ears flopping around as he dangled precariously. As for Guilmon, he didn't seemed alarmed at all by the danger and started sniffing the Gabumon, "You smell funny. Do I know you?"

"I think he's making fun of your fur," the Palmon said to Gabumon. The Biyomon sighed, "Guys! Focus! We're looking bad in front of the intruders!"

"Intruders?" Takato scoffed in disbelief, "THIS IS MY HOUSE!"

Palmon answered by shaking Takato in place. Juri gasped and tried pleading while Leomon drew his sword, "Put them down!"

The threat of violence put the digimon on their guard and they readied themselves to attack, "We don't listen to you! Who are you and how did you find this place?"

"I lived here!" Takato spat out. The digimon looked between each other and then at Takato, "What do you mean you lived here?"

"Oh come on, guys!" Takato whined, "You remember me, right?"

The digimon all looked between each other cautiously, before Gomamon spoke, "I don't like the cut of his jib. I don't trust him."

"Me either. But he says he lived here," Tentomon pointed out, "That's gotta be The Tamer!"

Takato pointed at Tentomon, "Yes, I am! I am the Digimon Tamer! That's me!"

"Yeah! That's the Digimon Tamer!" Leomon added quickly. The digimon paused again, looking from Leomon to each other. The Hawkmon frowned, "Do you think we can trust him?"

"If he is The Tamer, would you trust him?" the Palmon asked, continuing to keep them raised up in the air. Takato shouted again, "I swear! It's me! Put me down! This is ridiculous!"

Watching the scene unfold was perhaps the most surreal thing any of them had ever seen. Realizing things weren't going to get any better if things kept up like this, Henry stepped out with his arms raised, "We're not going to harm anyone! We're just here to get something and then we'll go. Well, Takato or Tamer is here to get something. Then we'll go. So can you please our friends down?"

The digimon continued to stare up at them cautiously. Why wouldn't they be? They were probably freaked out to see random humans and digimon showing up at a place no one should've known was there. Especially in the Digital World. Eventually, the Veemon spoke up, "To be honesht, I don't think they're going to hurt ush. If they were, they'd have done it before we got the jump on them. Beshidesh! They've got humansh with them! You guysh remember your partnersh, right? Maybe they're digideshtined?"

At that, Palmon dropped everyone but Takato. Juri and Terriermon landed with a thump, "Ow!"

"It's about time!" the little digimon complained, massaging his head. Now it was only Takato dangling up in the air and he complained, "So I'm just going to hang up here? Because the blood is starting to go to my head and I'm getting dizzy."

"Not until you get this!" Palmon answered, shaking the boy in the air and spinning him around. Juri gasped, "What are you doing? What did he ever do to you guys?"

"Long story. I'm just venting," Palmon replied, continuing to shake the upside down boy against his will as he jostled up and down. After giving him a good throttling, Palmon finally put him down head first. The boy sat up, massaging his head and grumbling at his mistreatment. The Gatomon approached, "So what brings you back after all this time?"

"Good to see you too," was all he said, still rubbing his head and looking up at the cat digimon, "This is some hello. I haven't seen you guys in forever and you jostle me upside down. What are you doing here, anyway?"

He was answered with Gatomon pressing her claws against him, "How about you tell us where you've been!?"

"What's going on out here?" a voice called out from the entry way. All eyes were on the door now as a young man with blonde hair stepped out of the entry way wearing a loose fitting tracksuit and a baseball cap. The man looked between each of them with an unimpressed frown and folded his arms, "Gatomon, I don't think Kari would appreciate you holding your claws at someone."

"I was just making a point," Gatomon said with a friendly smile, retracting her claws a little and stepping away so that the man could offer Takato a hand up. Takato glanced at his hand nervously, before getting pulled up and being dusted off, "Sorry about that. They're anxious because they haven't seen their partners in a while. Speaking of which, I see you've got a strange partner yourself. What kind of digimon is that?"

Takato gestured to everyone as he introduced them, "He's Guilmon, I'm his partner Takato. These are Henry, Terriermon, Juri and Leomon."

Before the man could even respond, the Gomamon interrupted, "Takato? A second ago, you were telling us you were Tamer!"

"Tamer?" the man repeated quietly, a small smile drawing itself on his face, "Of course. How else would you have found this place? I should've known it was you from the beginning. Come on in. We have a lot to talk about."

"Wait. Sorry, hang on a minute," Takato called out, massaging his temple and circling this strange man, "Sorry, I'm a little lost. Actually, I'm very lost. Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

The man laughed and flicked Takato across the forehead, "What? Don't you recognize me? It's Takeru. Y'know - TK?"

Takeru - the missing digidestined. The guy who'd vanished. Henry did his best to keep his mouth from hanging open. But Takato continued to rub his chin in clear confusion, "Wait! The hat kid? Oh! It's good to see you! What are you doing here? The others said you were missing! What are you even doing here? We have to tell the others!"

"Tell the others? Who are you to tell us that! YOU'VE BEEN MISSING! FOR YEARS! WAY LONGER THAN WE'VE BEEN HERE!" Patamon blurted out in frustration, until Takeru pulled his partner back. He massaged his partner's back until he calmed down, "It's alright, Patamon. I'll get some drinks. Let's take a moment to relax."

Takeru disappeared back into the house, followed by all the other digimon who came storming out. They'd calmed down but there was still an air of frustration coming from them. Henry swapped a nervous glance with Juri, and both looked down at Terriermon, "Do you think it's safe to go in?"

"Not if that's how they greet us," Terriermon answered, still massaging his sore head. Leomon sheathed his sword and asked, "Tamer, are those really the partners of the digidestined? The famed heroes of this world?"

"Yes, they are," he answered dryly, scratching the back of his head as he nervously added, "And I don't think they're at all too happy to see me. Big surprise there. Man, I know my memory's fuzzy but I hope I wasn't that bad in my last life."

"You've been kinda wimpy. Maybe that's why they're mad?" Terriermon suggested, ears spreading out wide again in a playful manner. Takato sighed, "Yeah, I hope so."

Takato's frown returned and Henry was left to ponder what exactly happened in the real version of events that left him sulking. The more time passed, the more clear it was that whatever actually happened was not what the books or the tv show described. He was pulled from his thoughts by Leomon loudly proclaiming, "You mean...they...but...that can't be right. I'm an idiot! Of course that's who they were! It's been so long that I forgot what they were. I can't be this foolish. Do you think they're mad at me? The heroes of the Digital World and I almost started a fight with them."

"I wouldn't worry about it. They're more mad at me than you," Takato said, "But let me go in first in case they feel like attacking again."

They proceeded inside, just behind Takato and Guilmon into the quaint little home that was far more modern in design that it would have suggested. There was a television, radios, several computer monitors and keyboards strewn across the floor of every room. The kitchen had its share of modern appliances which Takeru used to busily warm up some water for tea. Takato made his way through every room quietly, looking around with wide eyed astonishment, "I see you redecorated my house. Hmm. I don't like it."

Takeru chuckled from the kitchen, "Well, you weren't here so we just made ourselves at home."

While they continued to wait, they joined the digimon at a long dining table where they all sat quietly - awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact with the potentially angry digimon for their intrusion. Or rather, while they tried to keep their mouths shut as everyone of them stared at Takato in silence.

The only thing making it more awkward was a middle aged man with a beard and mullet resting with his head down on the table, wrapped beneath a blanket as he snored loudly. Eventually, the long and awkward silence was broken by Gabumon asking, "Okay, so I need to know because it's bugging me: why are you a kid again, Tamer? Shouldn't you be older than TK?"

"Would you believe that I have no control over my reformatting?" Takato answered sheepishly, "I just…kinda woke up like this. Believe me, this wasn't my first choice in appearance. Legs were too short, arms aren't long enough, and my hair is just…awful. I haven't cut my hair since I got this new face and it still won't get longer. I liked it better when it was all up. Now it just kinda…droops. Even when I push my goggles up."

"I still don't believe that's actually him," Gomamon grumbled. Takato looked at Henry and Juri quietly, unsure of what to say next. Neither of them were sure what he expected them to do - it wasn't like they were able to say anything. Henry could think of a few things he wanted to say to the digimon but he was sure they'd bite his head off if he tried. Thankfully, he didn't have to as Guilmon made his way around the table sniffing everyone, "You all smell familiar too! You smell like…disappointment. And you smell…like angst. And you smell…like you don't want to be seen without your fur!"

"Yeah well, you smell like-" Gabumon sniffed Guilmon back, "Bad breath. Although you do smell…familiar?"

* * *

Juri was getting anxious just sitting here, "Um, I don't want to be rude, Takato. But can you get what we're here for so we can go. I'm kinda uncomfortable here."

"Believe me, I am too," Takato assured as he sat up from the table, "It might take me a bit longer since things have been moved around. I'll definitely get started."

"What are you looking for anyway?" Gatomon asked, watching the boy as he made his way from room to room, examining every cabinet, closet, and dresser he could find. When he didn't answer, she rose up along with the Gomamon and they started following him around, "HEY!"

They were eventually stopped by Guilmon getting in their way to sniff them, "You smell really familiar. Like you've got an abandonment issues!"

"Okay, I'm scratching your face now," Gatomon said calmly, giving up her pursuit of Takato to bare her claws. Unfortunately, she was knocked over when Guilmon shoved his snout in her face to sniff her. Worried, both Juri and Leomon separated the two before they tried to kill each other. The next room appeared to be a bedroom where Takato was busy reaching underneath for something. Once again, Gatomon snapped, "What are you looking for, Tamer?"

"Clues, hints, guides," he replied sheepishly. He retrieved nothing but empty boxes, notebooks, and more, before finally grunting, "Something to help me…well, figure out what I missed. I get the feeling that old me…last me…wouldn't have taken steps to make sure that I didn't just walk out into the world unprepared for whatever I needed to do. I feel like he…I…would've left hints for myself to find. The question is, where would they be? Where would I have put it? It doesn't help that the house isn't the way I remembered it."

Juri frowned, once again reminded of the fact that this boy walking around with her classmate's face wasn't him but someone else. Living his life. The real Takato's life. Before he could get any further, they heard Takeru call from the dining room, "Tea's ready guys! And I have snacks!"

At the sound of that, Guilmon hurried out of the room and back into the kitchen to help himself, "YAY! I'M SO HUNGRY!"

"You're always hungry," Terriermon called out.

"You guys had better hurry back before he eats everything," Takato remarked quietly, still digging under the bed before giving up and hurrying over to the closet, "I'm going to be a while. I'll join you when I find...literally anything at this point."

"Juri, you should eat something," Leomon added, resting a hand on her shoulder and gently trying to move her from the door. She nodded and followed Leomon, noting that only Gomamon chose to join them. The cat-like Gatomon stayed beside Takato, tapping her foot impatiently as he made his way from one end of the room to the other. She wanted to trust that Gatomon wouldn't pick a fight, but wasn't sure Takato would make it easy for her. He seemed to have a knack for annoying people. At least they'd be nearby in case anything happened - If they could hear it that is. The dining room was packed with noise as the digimon happily gorged themselves on plates of cookies, cakes, crackers, rice balls and more. Henry sat at the far end of the table, trying his hardest to not get swept into the feeding frenzy while also getting some extra plates for Leomon and herself.

Meanwhile, the older man on the far side of the table continued to doze quietly. He must've been drunk if he was able to sleep through all the noise the digimon made. Takeru took a seat beside him and said, "Don't mind Shibumi here. He works himself to exhaustion and sleeps for days at a time once he burns himself out. He'll wake up...eventually. So, you're Henry and Juri. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. The same for your partners. It's a little nostalgic to see Leomon again after all this time. You don't happen to...remember me, do you?"

"I do, but I'm not that Leomon," her partner answered quietly, crossing his legs and resting his arms on his knees, "I'm...um...one of the Koromon from Koromon Village. You probably don't remember me but I digivolved into one of the Agumon back when we were guarding ShogunGekomon's palace."

"I do remember that, yes," Takeru nodded quietly, "But I'm sorry, I don't remember which one you are specifically. Although I understand it's normal for only digimon of the same type to be able to differentiate each other."

"Yes, that's quite true," Leomon nodded quietly, struggling to keep himself from bursting with excitement. At that moment, Takato returned into the room with his hands in his pockets, "You guys should just try using names then. It'd help. It's not like Henry or Juri go around calling themselves human or I just call myself Guardian."

"No, you go by Tamer," Gatomon snarked from behind him before finally joining the table to eat. Takato leaned against the door frame into the dining room and crossed his arms, his gaze shifting around the room as he mumbled, "It's gotta be around here somewhere. Where else would I put it? Never mind. So TK, what are you doing here?"

Takeru's expression turned dour, taking a small sip of tea before answering, "I'm hiding and the Digital World seemed like the safest place at the moment. My books might've made me famous but they also put a target on my back. One that put all of our digimon in danger. You remember that ninja guy? Well, he warned me about some shady government officials with express interest in both the digivice and our partners. I didn't want to think about what would happen if they fell into government hands - our partners or the digivices. So I gathered them together and took them back to the Digital World."

"We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye," Armadillomon frowned, "I miss Cody."

"It's still hard to believe that your books weren't just fiction, but that everything in them was real," Henry added excitedly, "All of it. The digimon...the Digital World...the digidestined."

"Of course they are. Why wouldn't they be?" Takeru answered with a raised eyebrow. Henry's mouth fell open, "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Takeru looked around the room cautiously. Takato hung his head as he answered, "He's human. Just like the rest of you. He probably hasn't even noticed anything wrong yet. Not to mention the fact that he's been hiding here for some time - he has no idea what's going on in the Real World. You at least know what's going on in the Digital World, don't you?"

Takeru shrugged, "Just some stories that I've heard whenever we go out. A lot of digimon have been fighting each other to get stronger for some reason. Some pick on the easy targets for whatever reason. We try to help out where we can and intervene, but it doesn't seem to be enough. And conflicting stories about how either you specifically have been seen traveling the Digital World with a violent digimon, you've been found in the Real World, or WarGreymon was defeated by something even the Sovereigns are afraid of. That last one turned out to be true."

"I heard," Takato remarked quietly, moving to finally take a seat at the table, "There's a lot you need to catch up on."

That was when Gatomon interrupted by slamming her paw against the table, "You can start by telling us where you've been all this time."

"Nuts to that. I want to know how Davish ish!" Veemon jumped up, "Ish be okay!? How'sh hish noodle shop!?"

Takato nodded, "I guess I owe you that much. The others are okay so far as I can tell. They're worried about you guys and want to find you. Your brother is worried sick about you, Takeru. As for me, I've been stuck in the human world for the last year trying to remember everything. Reformatting messed with my head a little, and I've been trying to get my head straight. Which leads to what I have to say: it turns out the reason why I can't concentrate is because there's more than one version of your world sitting on top of each other. They're overlapping with each other in a way that's messing with reality. I'd love to fix it, but first I need to get my head straight so that I don't make a bigger mess. And I was hoping to find something...anything. I feel like the old me wouldn't have left anything to chance."

"The Digimon part is true though. They've been showing up in our world a few at a time. At first it was just a few of them, but they kept getting stronger and stronger. It wasn't long before a really strong group of digimon started to appear called the Devas. And they were after the Catalyst...some kind of energy source that would make them strong," Henry added, "That's why we're here. They turned it into a little digimon named Calumon and we're trying to rescue him."

At the sound of the word Catalyst, Shibumi finally jolted awake and asked, "Huh? Is it here!?"

"Good morning!" Takeru greeted cheerfully as the man groggily stared around the room, eyes still half shut. Once he took notice of the new arrivals, he cracked a tired yawn and waved, "Oh, hello. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude to guests by sleeping. I'm Gorou Mizuno but my friends call me Shibumi. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Hi!" Juri waved nervously. Shibumi looked around the room quietly, his tired expression hardly changing from a frown until he finally asked, "So it's safe to say that the digignomes haven't returned?"

"Haven't seen anything," Takeru answered, gesturing towards them, "I thought it was them for a while because of all the noise they were making. It turns out it was just our guests."

Juri was how completely lost and leaned over to whisper in Takato's ear, "What are the digignomes?"

"I don't know. Never heard of them, before," Takato shrugged, before loudly asking, "Sorry, what's a digignome?"

Shibumi's face lit up in excitement, while the digimon all groaned, "Please don't get him started."

"He goes on forever about this stuff," Tentomon groaned, "It's like Izzy but without Mimi to shut him up."

Their pleas didn't stop Shibumi from beginning a lengthy explanation, "I'm glad you asked. You see, when my friends and I created the Digital World several years ago, we also created several programs to act as moderating agents. Some were there to make sure none of the digital life forms became too dominant and overran the program, while others were there to help facilitate the growth of disadvantaged life. Those are the digignomes. They're small, curious little creatures that only want to help and are smart enough to know what you want when you ask. And they always answer."

Gatomon rolled her eyes, "See, that's why you don't want to ask him too many questions about them. I've lived in the Digital World all my life and I've never heard or seen digignomes until this guy showed up. Now nothing in the Digital World makes sense. And I bet you had something to do with this!"

She pointed a finger at Takato angrily and he could only throw up his hands, "Would you believe I had no idea what's going on? Because I really don't. I was hoping getting out of the mess that was the Real World would help my headache out but the Digital World didn't help things. If anything, it proves what Kenta said. The Digital World that I've spent all my life in, the one that you guys all know, is merging with the Digital World made by Henry's dad and his friends in college. And if that's the case...well, then we're in a lot of trouble. There are cracks in reality now, cracks that a lot of evil things that prey on the fragile balance of the worlds will take advantage of. It's already started to affect the flow of time. The other digidestined aren't even experiencing time at the same rate anymore and they're all in the same world. Whatever is causing this has the Sovereigns scared. I just wish I had remembered before it was too late."

Takato fell quiet again, and Juri tapped his shoulder out of concern - worried he may get lost in his own head again. Terriermon on the other hand wasn't in the mood to deal with his disbelief and frowned, "Hey! Don't get all quiet on us again! You're the only one who knows where he's going right now. The last thing we need is you spacing out if there's danger. What's got you so down anyway?"

Takato didn't answer, "It took until Leomon and Andromon jogged my memory for me to remember. WarGreymon. My partner. That's who I was supposed to find - my best friend. He was supposed to help me remember myself after I reformatted. I didn't find him soon enough. Or he didn't find me. It doesn't matter...it's too late to do anything about it now…"

He paused again, "When those drawings I made started sliding into the card reader…and it turned into a digivice…I felt guilty at first. It was like…choosing to forget something really important. Having Guilmon…felt wrong for a reason I couldn't understand. Some part of me must've remembered Agumon. But I took care of Guilmon anyway - he was a baby digimon out of his element in a world he didn't know. I just hope I don't lose him the way I lost Agumon."

Juri understood why he'd been so quiet. It was just like her mother. She'd only known Leomon for a short while and she didn't know what she'd do if anything happened to him. But Takato must've known his partner for a long time before then. It was hard to imagine what it must've been like to lose someone you've been close to for that long. Sensing his partners unease, Guilmon pushed his head against Takato's arm.

"But he's right there," Takeru gestured at the red dinosaur.

A beat of silence followed. Henry's mouth fell open and the other digimon stopped eating. All eyes were on him like he was crazy. Takato raised an eyebrow at Takeru, and Juri looked back at Guilmon again. His name was Guilmon, not WarGreymon. Takeru noticed their confusion and frowned, "The moment I found out, I went to Primary Village hoping to find his DigiEgg. It took me a while. The data was corrupted - it was missing pieces like something had tried to devour it. With Shibumi's help, we were able to recover some of the data and send it to you."

"Me? But how did you find me!? I was right under Kari's nose for months and she didn't notice!" Takato repeated quietly. Takeru smiled, "I didn't know who you were right away, but I kept tabs on you. I mean, a scrawny little kid with no memory in baggy clothes wandering around the back of my brother's concert? Something was up. The others told me to leave it alone but eventually, I pieced it together when I saw Davis's sister's photos. Your clothes were the ones Tamer wore when we last saw him. You were Tamer."

"But why didn't you tell WarGreymon?" Henry asked, "If this is true, and you knew, why not tell WarGreymon?"

Takeru's frowned deepened, "Don't get me wrong. I tried to tell him but he didn't want to know. Or rather, he wouldn't let me tell him. He said, destiny would sort itself out in the end as long as he did what came naturally. I tried give give him hints but he wasn't interested. I asked if he could give me some hints on what to expect next. He just promised me that it would be taken care of. Since he wouldn't tell me anything, I decided to take matters into my own hands and start helping out wherever I could. Before I knew it, I ended up being you. I think that's why there are rumors going around that the Digimon Tamer is back. The digimon probably think I'm you."

Patamon whistled, "For what it's worth, you would make a better Tamer than the actual Tamer."

Gatomon frowned, "I don't think it'd be that hard to be honest. Tamer was annoying for a reason."

Takeru, for his part, didn't seem bothered by the comparison. He even seemed flattered, smiling as he added, "To be fair, it's not like I was trying. It all just sort of worked out. It's like what WarGreymon would say: do what comes natural and destiny will sort itself out. We've been keeping tabs on the Digital World ever since - in your name, Tamer."

Takato didn't seem to be paying attention to them, instead staring at Guilmon quietly. The digimon realized he was being stared at and looked up with a half eaten rice ball hanging out of his offered one to Takato, who brushed it aside to hug his partner. There was something sad about that hug though - something Takato wouldn't say and Guilmon didn't understand. Once he let go, Takato rubbed his eyes, "Huh. So this is what it feels like to be on the other side of the whole not knowing destiny thing. I don't like it."

"Welcome to the club," Gomamon rolled his eyes. Leomon cleared his throat, anxiously asking, "There's one part of this I don't understand. Why do all this? Why not just come out and tell everyone?"

Takeru's gaze went downward, "Because I haven't forgotten what happened when the Digimon Tamer and Agumon weren't around to protect the Digital World. The moment I realized he was a clueless kid in Japan…I knew I had to step in. But, the truth is, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing. But I still had to try. We did it in his name because the alternative would've been worse. I didn't realize until I started that this is a duty that never ends. There's always something about to go wrong, something about to destroy the Digital World or our world. And it's all we can do to keep the world from falling apart."

* * *

Henry found himself carrying a feeling of dread. Takeru's admission carried an air of guilt and his expression became tired as he said that. Is this what it meant to be a digidestined? Wrapped up in an unending mission to save a world always on the verge of tearing itself apart. The more he thought on it, the more he was terrified of his own future. And his own family was partially involved in this. Making it worse was Shibumi's gaze on him the entire time. Bothered, he asked, "Um…Shibumi, why do you keep looking at me?"

"Sorry, you just remind me of a friend of mine," he answered with a soft smile, "An old friend of mine, and I was wondering if you might be his relation. You wouldn't happen to know a Zhenyu Lee, would you?"

"That's my dad," Henry answered, remembering something his dad told him, "I thought I remembered your name. Your that friend of his that went missing after your project was shut down. But what happened to you? How did you get here?"

Shibumi beamed, "I'm glad he still remembers me. Truth be told, I have no idea. My memory becomes hazy between the project being shut down and waking up here. I remember graduation, vaguely. I don't know what else happened afterwards. But since I've been here, I figured I might as well continue my project and research life as it evolved here. Inconsistencies aside, the complexity and variety of life here is enough to make me marvel. And this Ancient technology Takeru introduced me to is a whole other thing to behold. I could spend a lifetime researching this and only scratch the surface."

"But you managed to learn enough to manipulate the data of a deleted digimon and send it to me," Takato stated skeptically, scratching his chin, "Color me impressed. But I'd like it if you stopped. The last thing we need is anyone using reality altering technology while reality itself is crumbling around us."

Shibumi waved his hands, "No can do. I still have bug fixes on the digivice models I've been working on. Takeru would like these ready as soon as possible."

"Wait, so you made these?" Takato lifted up his red trimmed digivice, "Because I have a lot of notes you should consider! First of all, I can't figure it out. Second of all, I love the card reader! Can you add more features like that? Third! How does this radar function work? Sometimes it detects digimon and sometimes it doesn't! What exactly is it doing?"

Shibumi waved his hand dismissively, "It's not meant for one like yourself to use. It's meant for children. Like the digidestined and their partners before them, with a few improvements suggested by Takeru. I'd be more than happy to show you how to use it to its full potential. That way, you won't have any trouble in the future."

"Yes, please!" Juri said quickly, jumping at the chance in front of her. She looked at Henry and Takato too, hoping they would join her. Henry nodded in agreement but Takato held up a hand and gestured at Takeru, "Wait, why do you want to make working digivices? I'm pretty sure we've been down this road before...somewhere...and I vaguely remember dying afterwards."

Juri jumped at that statement and noticed Takeru's attitude become more serious, "In truth, Tamer, it's because I'm not going to be around forever and I know for a fact that you're not always around. I had to take steps to prepare everything for a moment when the Digital World would need help and we weren't going to be around. And with everything going on, I figured now would be a good time to test drive it - so Shibumi and I each picked a child we knew. I picked Izzy and Mimi's daughter - you've probably met her already. Her name is Ruki."

"You mean Rika!" Terriermon said cheerily. Shibumi gestured at Henry with a smile, "And I chose you. Although, I thought you'd be a lot younger than you are now. I suppose what Tamer here was saying about time was true. Although I can't imagine it's been that long."

"My dad says he hasn't heard from you since college and that would've been before I was born," Henry answered quietly, unsure how the man would take the news, "That would've been before I was born. And I'm ten!"

"Huh, I guess it has been a while," Shibumi mused. He took that all surprisingly well - no shock, no alarm, not even a gasp. Just a small smile and a nod. His dad's friend was either really good at maintaining his composure or really didn't think missing ten years of his life was a big deal. Juri broke the silence by raising her hand, "Um, excuse me. Why did I get a digivice?"

"What?" Both Takeru and Shibumi said together. She raised it up, "I got it when I helped Leomon. But you said you each gave a digivice to your friends' kids. Did you know my dad? Or my mom?"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't. I have no idea why you got a digivice," Takeru scratched the back of his head. Shibumi snapped his fingers, "I think I do. I've always wondered how much of my work actually affects the Digital World. After all, I am altering the fabric of the Digital Space. I tailored the algorithms of my digivices to work for children with strong ties to digimon. It's entirely possible that went from being a hard code in my digivices design to a fact of the Digital World. So now any child with a strong enough bond to a digimon could, in theory, receive a digivice."

"Oh," she frowned. Leomon returned the smile on her face when he added, "It just means that we're really close, Juri."

Shibumi cracked a small, tired yawn and rose from his seat, "I think we've talked enough for now. How about we get started on the lesson? First up, how digivolution works!"

* * *

Shibumi spent the rest of the day showing them how to use the digivices, even introducing features they didn't even know it had. Before they knew it, day turned to night and Takeru set up some extra futons for them to sleep on. It was nice to have a comfortable bed to sleep on for the first time in a while, and Juri found herself resting comfortably in a way she hadn't in a long time. It was ruined only because eating and drinking her fill made her wake up in the middle of the night to relieve herself.

She was careful to tiptoe her way around the room so as not to disturb the other digimon and made her way out into the restroom. On her way back, she noticed the front door was left open and went to close it, stopping only when she saw someone just outside on the edge of the garden. She was alarmed at first, until she heard Takato's voice, "It has to be here, somewhere. If I were me, where would I leave it?"

"Takato?" she said quietly, rubbing her tired eyes and stepping out into the yard towards his voice. She found him walking the edge of the garden, examining the outer wall carefully and tapping it occasionally as he pressed ear against it. He jumped when she asked, "What are you doing?"

He corrected himself and tried to play it off, "Still looking for clues, hints. I keep thinking about it. I wouldn't have left myself or anyone out in the dark like this. There has to be something. But where? I had to have put it somewhere!"

"Shouldn't we get Guilmon?" Juri asked. Takato shook his head, "He's had a long day and he needs to rest. Besides, he's probably like me - only very fuzzy memories of being who he used to be. And I don't want to force him to remember something he can't."

"Well, do you mind if I look with you?" Juri asked quietly, sure of how alone Takato or Tamer must've been feeling right now. He nodded, "The more, the merrier."

They continued searching the perimeter of the wall, examining things carefully until they eventually came upon a white stone on the far end of the yard obscured by some bushes and plants. It was an odd decoration, worn by time and slightly overgrown. She pointed at it and asked, "What's that?"

"A reminder," Takato answered quietly, approaching quietly and removing some of the brush that had overgrown it. He wiped the dust off it, seemingly intent of restoring. Juri looked down at him and asked, "Of what?"

He sighed, "I don't want to talk about it. But maybe Takeru was right. Maybe we should just follow Agumon's advice. Just do what comes natural and destiny will sort itself out in the end."

He continued to dust off the white stone until something fell off the top from beneath the brush and dust. Juri picked it up but it was to dim to see properly, "A piece of paper? What is this?"

"Here," Takato took out his digivice and turned on the screen for them, holding it like a light on the photograph. It showed an assembly of kids in armor beside digimon, standing beside another adult in armor. Beneath it was text she couldn't read but there was one thing that stood out to her. Takato was on the picture, dressed in black clothes beneath white armor. Takato stared down at the photo in surprise, "I forgot about this. It's my old unit - Thirteenth Youth Corp. A recon and supply unit back in the war."

"You were all just kids," Juri said in disbelief. She'd known about the war. She didn't know they were kids. Takato nodded, "The war was getting desperate, back then. But that wasn't me. That was."

He pointed at another boy on the picture, one with fiery brown hair standing beside a small orange dinosaur. Juri looked at the boy, standing just a few heads away from the Takato she knew. The one who vanished. She pointed at him, "If that's you, then what happened to Takato? The _real_ Takato."

Takato was quiet for the longest time after she asked that question, and it took her perhaps a moment too long to understand why. Once she did, she dropped the photo and felt tears start to stream down her eyes. She didn't know why though. She had barely known Takato before - he was just a kid in her class who was really into digimon. But knowing now hurt her in a way she couldn't understand. She did manage to calm herself down enough to ask, "What are we going to tell his parents?"

"The truth," was all Tamer answered, folding the photo in half and sticking it into his back pocket, "They deserve to know that much. Their son is gone. The most we can do now is make sure he's not forgotten. And that means I'm going to have to do whatever he's supposed to be here doing. And Juri…I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

She wasn't sure why he was apologizing or why it hurt to know what happened to the real Takato. But it hurt her in a way she couldn't put into words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The horrible truth of the real Takato's fate has been discovered. What happens now and how will this affect how the others see Tamer Takato? What will happen when Rika and her group meet up with the others? And just where is Calumon right now? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name in two weeks on Friday, October 11th at 5 PM CDT. If you loved it, let me know in the comments section. Don't forget to judo the story to show support and bookmark to keep up with all the latest updates! That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter!
> 
> "Haven't heard that speech before. The Deva part is new," TK remarked, helping Takato out of the water and gesturing at the monkey, "That him?"
> 
> "Yep," Takato nodded, "That's the monkey who kidnapped our friend."
> 
> "YOU WILL ADDRESS ME AS LORD MAKURAMON!" the monkey seethed angrily, fuming as he continued jumping up and down. TK raised an eyebrow, "I don't see a lord, just a child throwing a tantrum."
> 
> "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?"
> 
> "Do I look like I care?" he fired back.


End file.
